More Bad News For Biglaw Associates?

Junior associates at one major firm will be forfeiting a traditional and coveted Biglaw perk -- but maybe this is the wave of the future?

“It has been a depressing summer for New York Biglaw associates,” one partner (not based in New York) wrote to us. “First, Wachtell Lipton implements the Big Brother monitoring system, and now Paul Hastings replaces offices with cubicles. The trappings of success just ain’t what they used to be.”

Yup, it’s true about the cubicles. Here’s a report about the New York office of Paul Hastings, by Sara Randazzo for the WSJ Law Blog, that this partner shared with us:

In its new midtown Manhattan space, junior lawyers won’t get the offices many dream of in law school. Instead, they’re getting a cubicle.

The move will only affect first- and second-year associates, who will be seated in pods of 12 in prime window-lined real estate on the ends of floors. For now, the firm is calling them the “end zones.”

The “end zones”: nice branding, but I’m not sure associates will be doing “victory dances” over losing the privacy and comfort of individual offices.

“I really do believe first- and second-years will benefit from true collaboration—they feed off each other,” said Barry Brooks, the chair of the firm’s New York office. “I don’t feel bad about it.”

The open zones will be cordoned off from the rest of the office by a wall of glass, and dividers will separate each desk. “There’s plenty of privacy,” Mr. Brooks said.

Not sure dividers and glass walls will prevent your colleagues from seeing what’s on your screen — Above the Law, natch — or overhearing that phone conversation with your mother about wedding centerpieces. But maybe that’s the point: monitored associates are more productive associates?

Perhaps I’m being unduly negative. First, note that this policy applies only to junior associates, who generally have to share offices anyway (at least in New York Biglaw). So the loss of privacy here is arguably marginal — a few more people overhearing your conversations as opposed to just your officemate. (And presumably there are private spaces, like phone booths or unused conference rooms, where people can go if they need to take or make confidential calls.)

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Second, open workspaces are taking over the world. If they are good enough for Google and Goldman, why shouldn’t they work for law firms?

Third, Paul Hastings has a knack for keeping its people happy. It has an impressive A-minus grade in the ATL Insider Survey, and it topped the latest Vault list of best law firms to work for (just as it did last year). Presumably it surveyed its associates before making this move. Perhaps Paul Hastings is being a pioneer here, and other firms will follow suit. Readers, what do you think?

Do you support the move of Paul Hastings (New York) to place junior associates in cubicles instead of offices?

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Lawyer Cubicles Are Coming to New York [WSJ Law Blog]

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Earlier: Wachtell Lipton Goes ‘Big Brother’ On Its Lawyers