Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) has announced a redundancy programme putting around 100 UK lawyer and secretarial jobs at risk, with further cuts anticipated across its business services divisions.

The redundancy consultation, announced today (14 May), is expected to affect around 58 legal staff and 44 secretarial staff. No numbers are yet available for business services, however the target will be a reduction in total salary costs of 15%.

The consultation is expected to last 45 days.

According to Legal Week's annual top 50 survey for 2011-12, BLP had 670 lawyers at the end of April 2012 – meaning that if all of the positions involved in the consultation were to go the cuts would equate to around 8.6% of lawyer numbers at that time.

Total staff numbers on the last day of the previous financial year stood at 1,521.

Announcing today's news Neville Eisenberg (pictured), BLP managing partner, said in a statement: "As announced last year, we have been in a period of integration and consolidation after a number of years of high growth and investment. The decision to review a number of roles across our London office is part of a general review of our business to ensure that we are well positioned for the future."

BLP completed a previous redundancy consultation in June 2009, with the firm laying off 85 members of staff. The firm had announced in May that it was reviewing 30 legal, 30 business services and 25 secretarial positions in London.

More than half of the cuts (47) were compulsory, with 32 staff opting for voluntary redundancy and six choosing to take early retirement. The redundancies affected the firm's corporate, finance and real estate practices as well as support functions including IT, accounts, marketing and human resources.

The planned cuts make BLP the latest in a string of firms to announce redundancies, with Eversheds, DLA Piper and Wragge & Co among those cutting staff in the UK.