Biglaw firms are increasingly embracing “one-size-fits-all” offices, catalyzed by the changing working landscape brought on by the pandemic. The once-glorious expansiveness of the partner office, contrasted with the more modest associate spaces, is becoming a relic of the past. The shift leans towards an egalitarian office arrangement where attorneys, irrespective of their ranks, have similar workspaces at their disposal. For example, Freshfields law firm has fully embraced this new office spatial configuration and appears to be faring well.
A more detailed account of this new setting, as reported by the American Lawyer, documents the change in Freshfields. It describes the office space as characterised by solo working spaces measuring about 140 square feet each, a feature that extends to every layer of the organisation, from juniors to the most senior partners. The report further adds that so far, the reaction from the occupants has been largely positive, two weeks since they moved to the new office location in Manhattan.
Adding his thoughts about the change, Sarah Solum, the firm’s U.S. managing partner, termed the large partner office-small associate office model as “a thing of the past.” Paul Humphreys, New York managing office partner, affirms this by sharing that he’s willingly downsized his office just like every other partner at Freshfields, adding, “I don’t think any partner laments the loss of additional square footage.”
Adopting such a standardised office space could lead to a more equitable working environment, and it is a shift that may save firms significant money on real estate costs, without causing upset among their workforce, as has been seen with the Freshfields transition. This begs the question, will other firm’s follow Freshfields approach to office space? Only time will tell.
Read the interesting coverage here.