Today’s law offices face the same challenge as other businesses across industries post-Covid–creating a space that employees want to work in. Previously designed primarily as a tool to demonstrate status and prestige for clients, firms are being more responsive to their employees’ work modes and needs, employing a more human-centered approach.  

Steelcase researchers discovered what legal professionals need and how to design spaces that meet these needs. They found that employee inclusion, flexibility, and regeneration are the three key factors driving the workplace experience for legal professionals today.

• Inclusive – Law firms need to bring more diverse voices into the conversation to design for everyone’s needs, work modes, and work processes. 
• Flexible – Law firms need to design for flexibility of space, tools, and technology to create higher-performing experiences. 
• Regenerative – Law firms need to support emerging employee values with a work experience that is regenerative and restorative. 

Law firms are making changes and redesigning their offices to meet these new employee expectations and ways of working. Barbara Dunn, a principal and studio leader at Gensler’s Los Angeles office, sees law offices becoming “smaller, more flexible, more collaborative and more client-focused and technology-enabled.” Gensler’s tips for rethinking the law office can be found here.  

Deborah Nemeth, an Interior Designer at SmithGroup, shares how inspiration from two other industries, higher education and hospitality, are influencing the next evolution of the law office. Today’s law students are trained through highly interactive educational experiences that take place in a variety of active learning classrooms and environments, including small group collaboration and problem-solving activities. This has led to the creation of more social spaces within law offices, such as lounges, teaming areas, and huddle rooms.

A hospitality-centric space is another key driver for the future law office as attorneys have become accustomed to the comforts of home while working remotely during the pandemic. The addition of large open café spaces and hotel-like bar areas to host clients and firm gatherings has become popular amongst offices. “These spaces are infused with a variety of seating types, much like one would see in a coffee shop or hotel lobby, with an emphasis on soft seating,” Nemeth continued.

Law offices are also challenged with using their physical office space most efficiently to reflect today’s changing expectations. In 2022, CBRE Workplace surveys found a preference for flexible work in many law firms. While most associates and partners reported a preference to spend at least 50% of their time in the office, they also placed a high value on a policy allowing for some remote working.

Some firms have successfully implemented open and hybrid strategies to improve collaboration and talent retention while reducing their occupancy costs. CBRE states that space trends will continue to evolve, so most firms are designing flexible layouts that include portions of their space (10%-40%) to accommodate hybrid/non-assigned teams in the future. 

Law firms are making changes. Existing design typologies are transforming to meet new demands. There are new expectations around flexible work, inclusive of everyone, and regenerative experiences. These expectations are impacting the functionality of traditional spaces, shifting to be more high-performing and multi-purpose.  

In the business world as we know it today, 43% of all US employees work remotely. This can’t come to a huge surprise as we all know handfuls of people who don’t report to an office every day. Reports claim that when employers offer a variety of work settings, there is a 12% increase in employee satisfaction.

In our audit within the legal industry, we found that many of our legal clients reflect a wide range of workplace strategies and layout/product choices, and not necessarily all have jumped on the bandwagon with regard to this new way of working.

While some are edging more towards a future-thinking workplace, others are still very traditional in their mindset. We do expect to see many more firms start to explore alternate strategies as their current leases expire and they prepare for the influx of the next generation of attorneys. While most leases are 10-15 years, that means most companies today are planning for the workplace needs of 2030 and beyond.

CBRE has estimated that 29 million square feet of law firm lease space is set to expire in the next 5 years. (Half of these lease expirations are in New York, Houston, Chicago & Washington D.C.)

In the legal industry specifically:

• SF per attorney is reducing: 600-700 square feet per attorney vs. 900-1k SF in past.
• Overall SF is reducing: 10-30% reduction in overall square footage of law firms.
• Staff/ overhead is reducing: 4-6 attorneys are now supported by just 1 legal assistant, a sharp increase from 1-2 just ten years ago.
• The next generation taking over: more than 50% of all lawyers in the US will be millenials by 2025, and that number is expected to rise to 75% by 2030.

While we know workplace planning is in a constant state of flux, we find it’s interesting to look at some of the nuances with regards to specific verticals while also comparing them to some of the macroeconomic drivers for change.

1. INCREASED REAL ESTATE COSTS: Forcing firms to choose between downsizing or relocating.
2. EXPECTATIONS OF THE NEXT GENERATION: Incoming workforce expects a certain level of technology access & cares less about status.
3. INCREASED COLLABORATION IN LEGAL PROCESS: Rising need for more shared spaces and collaborative solutions.
4. HEIGHTENED COMPETITION FOR TALENT: Competing with financial and tech companies to attract/retain talent; using space as a recruiting tool.
5. INCREASED PRESSURE ON ATTORNEY RATES: Finding ways to work more efficiently in order to pass the savings on to clients.
6. LESS CLIENTS IN OFFICE: Shifting workplace strategy from client-focused to more worker-focused.

From our viewpoint, we see many shifts starting to happen. Some mirror what we see currently happening in other industries, and some are different due to the unique needs and habits of legal workplaces.

FLEXIBILITY

• Solutions that evolve over time
• Spaces that work harder (shared offices, multipurpose, touchdown, etc.)
• Choice of space to match the type of work at-hand

STANDARDS CHANGING

• Less hierarchy-based distinctions
• Similar footprint for all attorneys
• Hassle-free moves/adds/changes
• Future-proofing for incoming staff
• Storage that varies by department

SMART LAYOUT

• Goodbye corner office, hello corner collaboration spaces
• Files banks & libraries along windows to easily convert to offices
• Push for off-site or cloud file storage

WELLNESS

• Sit-to-stand and treadmill desks for attorneys’ long work hours
• Hospitality-inspired touches
• Sense of warmth through fabric/finish, paint & artwork selections

BREAKING DOWN BARRIERS

• Glass walls to provide visibility w/ privacy
• Internal staircase to connect teams
• Elaborate eating spaces to break bread & build culture

In a world where it appears the norm is inching closer towards remote working, legal firms are sticking to the philosophy of creating a place that people want to come to because they can’t get the tools, technology and peer-to-peer interaction anywhere else.

SOURCES

Gallup State of the American Workplace Report 2017

BISNOW: Law Firms Are ‘Future-Proofing’ The Workplace To Remain Competitive

BISNOW: Goodbye Dark And Dreary, Hello Open, Well-Lit Law Office

CBRE 2017 US Law Firm Trends Report

BISNOW: Law Firms Are ‘Future-Proofing’ The Workplace To Remain Competitive / CBRE 2017 US Law Firm Trends Report