Top Biglaw Firm Adopts 'One-Size-Fits-All' Office Policy, Where Partners No Longer Rule The Real Estate Roost
From partners to associates, everyone is on equal footing when it comes to office size at this firm.
King of the office no more…
In the wake of the pandemic and the rise of the hybrid work week, Biglaw firms are doing more with less when it comes to their real estate footprints — when it comes to office space, that is. Gone are the days of the expansive partner office compared to the humble spaces offered to associates. Firms are leaning in to a more “egalitarian” view when it comes to the offices where their attorneys work, and everyone from partner to associate will get what they get and they (hopefully) don’t get upset.
So, what kind of office space are they getting? At Freshfields, lawyers now find themselves in “one-size-fits-all” offices. We cracked a joke earlier today that smaller offices for partners “ought to get [them] on board with working from home” but partners at the firm don’t seem to be too miffed about their smaller quarters — at least not publicly.
The American Lawyer has the details on the firm’s cozier office quarters:
[J]unior associates up through the most senior partners have solo work spaces that are each roughly 140 square feet, which is also “smaller than they were” at the previous office, at 601 Lexington, firm leaders say.
The verdict? At least two-plus weeks after officially making the move from Midtown Manhattan to the tip of the island, no one seems too upset about it.
Sarah Solum, the firm’s U.S. managing partner, had this to say of the new Freshfields office space agenda: “I think the old way of doing things for law firms was to have giant partner offices and smaller associate offices. And that’s kind of a thing of the past.”
Paul Humphreys, New York managing office partner, told Am Law he downsized his office just like every other partner at Freshfields. “I don’t think any partner laments the loss of additional square footage,” he said.
What is your firm doing in terms of office space for attorneys? Do partners still work in sprawling spaces while associates are cloistered away in little nooks, or has your firm adopted an equitable vibe for their office space, where all lawyers use offices of the same size? Please please text us (646-820-8477) or email us and let us know. Thanks.
Freshfields Goes to One-Size Attorney Offices, as NY Space Mixes ‘Egalitarian’ and ‘Vibrancy’ [American Lawyer]
Staci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter and Threads or connect with her on LinkedIn.
