Crain’s Cleveland Business writes…
Once a symbol of successfully rising through the rungs of the corporate ladder, big, glassy corner offices may be falling out of style with law firm leaders in a world afflicted by COVID-19 as they rethink their spatial needs.
Like others, Squire Patton Boggs global managing partner Fred Nance said in a recent interview with Crain’s that he has grown comfortable working predominantly from home amid the pandemic that has otherwise upended norms for how lawyers have conducted business and collaborated with each other.
Couple that growing comfort with the need to rein in spending, and it’s no surprise a principal with legal consultancy Altman Weil said this summer that it would be “managerial malpractice” to not reconsider office-related costs and petition landlords for rent concessions. Some issues over rent have been taken to court.
In today’s world of reduced travel and physical distancing, more and more firms are leaning toward shedding unneeded office space and shrinking their footprints, Nance said. It has become a regular topic among a managing partners roundtable that Nance participates in, which includes chairs from 34 other large — and for many, international — law firms. Members of the group act as a sort of “sanity check” for one another, he said.
“We’re all figuring out we don’t need as much fancy office space as we thought we did,” Nance said. “We are certainly not the only industry coming to this conclusion. And it will have an effect on property values, a depressing effect, on some of them.”
As people look at their lease obligations, “I dare say you are going to see a lot of people looking for smaller footprints,” he added, noting the “good old days” of senior partners having those large offices could be going away.
More at. https://www.crainscleveland.com/jeremy-nobile-blog/opulent-offices-may-be-falling-out-style-law-firms-rethink-office-needs
