Fox in the Henhouse at DLA Piper

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If the economy keeps getting worse — check out today’s stock market meltdown and Bear Stearns debacle, discussed over at Dealbreaker — law firms will need to replace the dried-up revenue streams from transactional practice. And this time around, it looks like the usual countercyclical practices — e.g., litigation, bankruptcy — aren’t picking up the slack.
Fortunately, there’s a growing cottage industry for Biglaw: renting out offices to film and television production companies. This message recently went out to everyone in the Washington office of DLA Piper:

Subject: Fox Pilot Shoot This Weekend

Please be advised that Fox Television Network will be filming a TV pilot shoot on Saturday, March 15, and Sunday, March 16, from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., in our office space. They have been authorized to take photographs and shoot scenes of the interior and/or exterior of the building.

The areas to be filmed, include office locations 6050 and 6052, the hallway outside these 2 offices, the atrium, 7 Red, and the dining area of the cafe. 7 White will be used to store equipment and other items needed during the shoot.

If you have any questions or concerns, please let me know.

Thanks.

[xxxx]

And, no, they don’t need any “extras” 🙂

Sorry, DLA Pipers. Your best shot at fame is still reality television.
We’ve walked past the DLA Piper offices here in D.C. many a time — they’re very well-located, in the delightful Penn Quarter neighborhood — and we’ve been impressed. The building is sleek, ultra-modern, and so well-lit that you can practically see the titles of the books on the shelves (yes, we’ve tried). It’s not hard to imagine a movie or TV show being filmed on the premises.
But we have to ask: Fox? Is this damaging the DLA brand? Consider the following hierarchy of law firms and the productions they’ve hosted:

Oscar-winning feature film, starring George Clooney: Dewey Ballantine (with shared credit to Davis Polk).

Feature film, starring Cameron Diaz: Cadwalader.

Fox TV pilot: DLA Piper.

Well, hey, it could be worse. E.g., Skinemax.
Update: A DLA Piper source confirmed the accuracy of, and asked us to highlight, this comment:

DLA Piper’s Baltimore office was a filming location for Syriana. Also an Oscar-winning feature film starring George Clooney.

So please don’t associate DLA Piper exclusively with the folks responsible for making Paula Abdul a household name once again. Thanks.
DLA Piper moves to new office space in Washington D.C.’s Penn Quarter [DLA Piper]

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