Making the Case for Change: 12 Trends in Law Firm Design By Clay Pendergrast Published in the September Issue of the GLA ALA Ledership Exchange Magazine After years of occupying traditional offices, law firms have new needs. Law office designers must stay on top of the fast-moving forces shaping the transformation of these spaces. Lawyers all used to work in much the same way. They followed isolated, individual processes that were mostly paper-based. The traditional law office infrastructure was fixed and hard-wired, with a rigid hierarchy of private offices. Today, a new generation of lawyers is working in different ways that must be supported by new types of office space. HOK Los Angeles Vice President and Interior Design Director Clay Pendergrast, AIA, is part of HOK s national law firm group, which meets monthly via teleconference to compare notes on current projects and to discuss emerging trends in law office design. Pendergrast, who has been designing law offices for nearly a quarter of a century, provides an example of how quickly things are changing: We were recently competing for the renovation for a law firm in Los Angeles whose offices are about 15 years old, he says. As we toured their current space, I was startled to go into a conference room and see a beautiful stone conference table that didn t have built-in ports to provide data and power access for laptops. That s just a given these days: Traditional conference rooms are being redesigned to function as multipurpose rooms equipped with audiovisual and videoconferencing capabilities. But if you think about it, that s a relatively recent requirement. 1. Technology Changes Everything Though they are less mobile than their peers in many other industries, the actual time attorneys spend in their suite of offices is considerably less than it was just 10 years ago. Perhaps the biggest change is that, to improve client service, attorneys are working more as teams: in the office and virtually. Enabled by IT-based processes, they can and do work anywhere both within and outside the office. While private offices are still the standards, flexible team space is becoming more important for legal teams coming together to work on a specific case. 2. Brand Drives Design Until the late-1990s, a law firm s managing partners typically led the internal team working with the designers of their office space. The designers carried out the vision of these partners. Many of today s law firms are savvy enough to brand themselves to be recognizable within a market or across multiple office locations. While the managing partners may still lead the project process, in large firms an internal committee often develops or refines the brand and then that brand guides the design. 3. Shrinking Offices As with every other industry, overall law office spaces are getting smaller as firms look to save money on buildout and leasing. Not long ago, there was a consistent pattern of space allocation. Offices of senior partners were 300-400 square feet, partners offices were 200-250 square feet, and associates got about 150 square feet. As in most industries, the trend is for these offices to get smaller. From senior partners on down, law offices are shrinking. In terms of size, there is no longer much distinguishing the offices of senior partners and partners. While there might be vast differences in finishes and furniture, Pendergrast says the 225-square-foot office is the standard. We even have designed an office for a large law firm in which all the associate and partner offices were the same size, he adds.
4. Less Prominent Libraries Technology has reduced the importance of the traditional law library. Lawyers don t need to go to the library to dig out a book when most of the information they need literally is at their fingertips via the keyboard. While law librarians still fulfill a critical role, most of their work involves coordinating and directing attorneys to online information. Pendergrast estimates that today s law libraries take up 75 to 95 percent less square footage than they did just a decade ago. Though firms don t need a large library of actual books, one challenge is how to best take advantage of and showcase the books they do have. One thing we do is distribute the books around the firm, Pendergrast notes. Some may be placed next to practice groups that they relate to. Others may just be placed out in the open or in reception areas. 5. Highesr Secretary-to- Attorney Ratio Today s secretaries support many more attorneys than they did in the past. Ten years ago, senior partners and partners had one or more secretaries who exclusively supported them. A big rainmaker may even have had three secretaries. While a partner typically still has one dedicated secretary, many secretaries now support five or six associates and paralegals. This higher ratio of attorneys to secretaries has dramatic planning consequences because we are devoting much less space to secretarial stations, says Pendergrast. Designers must also be aware that secretaries and paralegals increasingly are being integrated into case and practice teams. 6. Modular Furniture Another strong trend is to create flexibility by using more modular furniture. Secretarial station furniture, especially, is becoming more modular and made of simpler, less expensive materials. For decades it was a given that secretarial stations would be made of expensive custom millwork. This contributed to the general traditional image of the law firm while also accommodating the secretaries storage and equipment needs. Major furniture manufacturers like Knoll, Steelcase, Haworth, and Herman Miller marketed traditionally-designed, woodcladded systems furniture created specifically for legal secretaries. But now these large manufacturers are rolling out ergonomically designed systems furniture that works for legal secretaries. Legal secretaries do have distinct needs, says Pendergrast, but a workstation cubicle s components typically can accommodate them just as easily as they can someone who works for a technology company. The attorneys furniture also can be modular. We re seeing that trend in some associates offices, says Pendergrast. We can use the work surface, storage components, and accessories of a cubicle but mount it to a wall in an office. This can contribute to a very handsome office and furniture solution. In addition to the aesthetics and lower price tag, modular furniture is appealing for its flexibility. It can be easily disassembled, reconfigured, and moved to different locations. 7. Ergonomic Offices Law firm leaders and all levels of employees have a heightened awareness of the importance of proper ergonomics. Many legal professionals spend most of their time each day working on their computers. They expect their chair to be adjustable so they can be comfortable and productive.
Lighting is another ergonomic consideration, says Pendergrast. Providing the proper type of light that doesn t create a glare on the computer screen isn t always implemented but it s always discussed and priced, he says. If the budget allows, many firms want some sort of direct/indirect light fixture. 8. Workplace Standards Most law firms do not have space standards or guidelines. If they do, odds are they are more of a casual, We always put partner in large offices next to windows approach than they are formal guidelines. Pendergrast says large national firms always have experienced tug-of-wars in terms of forcing all their senior-level attorneys or regional potentates to conform to formal or informal workplace standards. Often the most powerful attorneys have been allowed to either customize or to completely ignore existing standards. While that still goes on to some degree, most firms have better defined how they want to work and will enforce this approach. There are some opportunities to tweak standards, Pendergrast says. But the strong trend is that this is happening less and less. 9. Less Money Spent on Facilities While construction costs in cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco, or New York obviously are higher than they are in other regions of the country and construction costs in general are skyrocketing, law firms are spending proportionaly less on the design and construction of their offices. In general, the cost for construction of law offices nationwide has gone down 10 to 15 dollars per square foot since 2000, says Pendergrast. Of course the money that isn t being spent on construction is being redirected toward various forms of technology. Attorneys are becoming much less concerned about appearance and more focused on having space that works, he says. And the money they are required to spend on technology has taken away from what they can spend finishing the space with things like expensive wall cladding, parquet floors, and marbletopped reception desks and credenzas. Some of these finishes still serve practical needs in that they provide durability, but for most part the materials we re using are humbler. One large law firm was growing by about 30 percent annually when HOK began working with them. This firm asked the design team to embrace technology and to create a design that would result in an extremely low rentable square foot cost for construction per billable employee. The team responded by creating an elegant but understated environment that used simple materials and more efficient office standards that reduced space requirements. This 125,000-rentable-square-foot office was built for just $49 per rentable square foot. That s remarkably low, Pendergrast notes. 10. More Partners and Recruiting Rainmakers The traditional path for an attorney to work his or her way up from associate to being a partner and a shareholder in a law firm involved a grueling 7-to-11-year process. A new trend is for attorneys to be acknowledged for their skills and experience by being named a partner before they become a shareholder. These are attorneys who may not have the marketing skills to generate a lot of work on their own, but they do execute their work with a high degree of skill, Pendergrast says. Firms are recognizing their value by making them a partner but not a shareholder.
The effect on law office design is the creation of a third office standard: one that is larger than an associate s office but smaller than that of the traditional shareholder partner. Many law firms are targeting instant growth by hiring prominent money-making lawyers away from other law firms. Rather than going through the long, costly recruiting process to pluck the best and brightest students from the country s best law schools, they are making these more lateral acquisitions of successful attorneys who bring plenty of clients with them. The effect on designers, says Pendergrast, is that law offices must be more flexible and modular. Say they hire a moneymaker from a competitor who brings four attorneys with him or her. Their offices need to be flexible to accommodate this influx. 11. Same Footprint, Different Brand Law firms searching a city for new office space often are attracted by space being vacated by another law firm. Leasing space previously occupied by a law firm makes sense: With private offices along perimeter walls and secretarial stations across from the attorney offices in the right ratio, the footprint can be ideal. But while they can save money doing this, firms might be surprised at the amount of work required to customize the space to fit their brand. Even if the office matches their size requirements, firms considering adapting vacated law offices should factor in how they they ll need to change the space. A Los Angeles-based law firm recently took 90,000 square feet of space previously occupied by a much more conservative law firm with a traditionally designed brand. This firm wanted a contemporary image and a more streamlined look, but the space we were renovating had large quantities of heavy, dark wood paneling and wood flooring and a grand interconnecting stair that looked like something out of Gone With the Wind, Pendergrast says. The design transformed that traditional environment into a modern workplace by lightening the color and finish palette, using sleek, contemporary finishes, and replacing ornate hardware and millwork molding with simple trim. Yet that transformation came with a cost. Though the client did save money, they were surprised at how expensive it was, Pendergrast admits. The lesson for other law firms is that even if they keep 80 to 85 percent of a space s the existing walls, if there is a dramatic difference between the two firms brands then the re-branding and re-finishing will require a substantial investment. 12. Sharing Space and Off-Siting In buildings or areas with a high concentration of law firms, there is potential for firms to save money on buildout and rent by sharing facilities such as large conference centers or mock courtrooms. There s lot of talk about sharing services like this, Pendergrast says. Pendergrast designed a mock courtroom for one firm that came with a modular judge s bench and witness stand that each are easily dissembled and moved. Building in this flexibility makes sense because the space is only used as a mock courtroom for 30 to 45 days of the year. The design placed the mock courtroom directly off the elevator lobby, on the lowest floor of a building shared by several other law firms.
HOK Interiors, a design practice with offices worldwide, creates workplace environments that respond to the business needs of today s law firms. Based on current benchmarking trends, its innovative, cost-effective workplace solutions reduce occupancy costs, leverage technology, promote recruitment and retention, enhance a firm s image, and provide flexible office environments. It s isolated enough that other firms in need of a temporary mock courtroom could lease the space from this firm without disturbing their operations, Pendergrast says. Another trend to look for in large firms is moving non-attorney functions such as central filing or accounting off-site, either to a less desirable (i.e., lower-cost) floor in the building or even to a completely different location. Pendergrast helped another firm move its central file room to a high, windowless floor of the building tower. The rent was cheaper and they had plenty of room, he says. So we were able to take advantage of an inexpensive space to serve a critical function. Benchmarking Survey HOK just completed a nationwide benchmarking study for the legal industry. The effort compiled benchmarking data on more than 20 firms nationwide to gain insight into their changing work practices and workplaces. While the specific information is proprietary, here are some key results: Law firms greatest concerns are business growth and retaining key people. Real estate and facility costs represent law firms second-highest expense after salaries. Critical factors for optimizing return on investment in facilities are: Implementing consistent standards. Improving space flexibility. Shifting space allocation from mostly individual to shared. Office space per attorney is steadily decreasing across the industry. Changes in the work environment can help drive cultural change within firms. Firms believe the work environment can have a significant effect on productivity, satisfaction, recruitment, and retention. Pendergrast says HOK will continue to benchmark the legal industry to ensure it is designing work environments that best support the law firms of the future. As the legal industry s work practices continue to change so they can provide better client service, we as designers must create environments that support them.