Managing partner Mark Dawkins is calling it a business decision to “ensure we remain efficient faced with a contracting market in some areas”.

A month-long consultation could see up to 20 junior lawyers, 35 secretaries and 14 other support staff made redundant. More than 3,000 solicitors have been made redundant in the UK since the start of the credit crunch, including from other Magic Circle firms Clifford Chance and Linklaters.

Things are much worse in the US, though, where around 800 lost their jobs on a single day last week.