Taylor Wessing has targeted having a 25% female partnership in the UK by 2018, becoming the latest firm to reveal its ambition on diversity.

The firm, which currently has a 17% female partnership, has set up two new diversity groups to help it reach the new goal.

It has launched think tank chaired by Taylor Wessing partners to review working practices across the firm and report back on informal and formal arrangements to improve flexible working arrangements.

The think tank will involve a group of male and female associates and will offer its suggestions in early 2015.

The firm is also setting up a 'Big Conversation' programme, where groups of around six to 10 lawyers within various business groups and practice areas will hold meetings to address improving the inclusivity of the firm's culture.

Though it will not be obligatory that every practice area has a 'Big Conversation' group, the whole firm has been asked to engage and more than 25 partners have already volunteered to lead the initiatives.

The target and initiatives come after the firm surveyed its associate body in the summer on its views of diversity within Taylor Wessing.

HR director Caroline Rawes said: "The gender imbalance occurs at the step between associate and partner level, so it's the associates whose perceptions matter. With that in mind, we engaged with our entire associate body to identify our weakest areas."

The survey highlighted that working arrangements were not as flexible as they could be, despite the existence of an inclusive culture within the firm.

Taylor Wessing's new target mirrors those announced by Ashurst and Pinsent Masons earlier this year, which have also set goals to make a quarter of their partners female by 2018.

In June, Linklaters became the first magic circle firm to implement a gender diversity target, seeking to double female representation on its executive committee and board to 30% over the next four years.