Ashurst has cut 54 London secretary positions following a redundancy consultation that started in May.

The firm initially said that up to 80 roles were at risk when it announced the restructuring of its 100-strong London secretarial ranks.

The consultation has now ended, with 54 full-time-equivalent roles made redundant.

The review also saw the firm introduce three new support roles – practice executive, team executive and team assistant – with the new downsized team split across its London and Glasgow offices. All of Ashurst's existing secretarial staff were able to apply for the new positions.

Twenty-five have taken up the practice executive role, which manages responsibility for practice management and client communications. The firm said it has recruited for the majority of the remaining 12 practice executive roles.

Meanwhile, 14 of the new team executive and team assistant roles – which will undertake more traditional secretarial tasks – have been filled internally. The remaining 31 roles are being recruited externally.

A spokesperson for the firm said: "The collective and individual consultations with impacted staff have concluded and out of the 80 roles at risk, 54 full-time-equivalent roles have been confirmed as redundant."

Ashurst EMEA and US HR head Claire Townshend added: "We recognise that this has been a difficult time for those directly affected by the changes and we aimed to deal with the process sensitively, openly and respectfully for those impacted. We have been very grateful to our staff for being engaged and professional through this time and we thank them for this."

Other firms to make cuts among their secretarial ranks in the last year include Pinsent Masons, which cut 78 legal PA roles last year, and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, which offered voluntary redundancy to all of its London secretarial staff in 2017.

Ince & Co this week announced that it has made 32 redundancies in London, with 25 business services roles and seven fee earners going as a result of a consultation that began in June.