Linklaters, Clifford Chance (CC), Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Hogan Lovells, Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF), Ashurst and Baker & McKenzie are among the firms bulking up their project management capabilities as clients continue to push for better value and greater efficiency from their legal advisers.

Linklaters has already tripled the number of project managers at the firm over the last year and now has 15 working across 25 jurisdictions. It is understood to be planning to expand this further to around 40 professionals and is looking to hire project managers in London, Frankfurt and Hong Kong.

The firm has said that project managers are already used on between 30% and 40% of large transactional mandates, with this figure expected to rise in line with the expansion of the team and client demand. According to current job adverts, London-based project managers work on complex matters that are frequently cross border and typically in excess of £1m of fees, sometimes much larger, and will report to the lead matter partner and the head of business improvement

Meanwhile, following news that Freshfields is planning to open several low-cost business centres, the firm is also in the process of hiring project managers for its new Manchester base. It is currently advertising for a senior project manager to work on "all aspects of project delivery" across the firm. The firm is also looking to recruit a project manager team leader responsible for a group of "programme managers, project managers and project coordinators".

Magic circle rival CC has placed adverts for a senior legal project manager and a project manager to join the firm in London as it pushes ahead with plans to build its project management capacity to support "the delivery of the full matter lifecycle, from pricing and inception through to the completion of the post-closing activities". The advertised positions are part of a wider push, though the firm would not confirm numbers, practices or regions for its planned recruitment.

"We use dedicated legal project managers on a range of matters across several offices," says Oliver Campbell, global head of client service solutions at CC. "We are expanding our legal project management team across several jurisdictions at the moment."

Ashurst first introduced project managers in 2011 and employs five in its City base, with the firm now looking to significantly ramp up this presence across different regions and practices. It is looking to hire local legal project managers in London and Sydney who will work with central support from a dedicated team in Glasgow, and plans to set up project manager teams in other offices should the need arise.

Bakers has already brought in 25 project managers since introducing the role in 2010 and is now looking to increase numbers in Chicago and London, implementing a regional project management structure to ensure that resources are available when and where partners need them.

In keeping with Bakers, Hogan Lovells and HSF are both aiming to increase project manager numbers but with a focus on teaching the skills to lawyers rather than recruiting large teams of dedicated managers.

Hogan Lovells implemented a pilot project management scheme last year under the supervision of Berwin Leighton Paisner's former legal services manager, Christine Siler, and now has four project managers in Munich, Paris, London and Washington DC with regional responsibilities. The firm is planning to hire more to be based within its practice groups.

HSF currently has five project managers across London, Australia and Asia and intends for this number to grow.

Commenting on the trend for greater efficiency, Linklaters' managing partner, Simon Davies, says: "We've made a huge effort on efficiency and how to drive that for clients; the number of professional project managers we have at the firm has tripled in the last 12 months.

"We've also been looking at process mapping and reducing time on certain products by 25-30%. It's all part of a sectoral trend of driving greater efficiency for clients, which ties in with technology."