Biglaw

The Hot New Location For Biglaw?

Not a bad place to work...

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55 HudsonThat Milbank Tweed — one of the stalwarts of downtown Manhattan since just after the Civil War — will draw up stakes and move would always generate news. However, the decision to forego another location in its rebuilding, familiar Wall Street environs as well as the traditional Midtown corridor where Biglaw firms huddle together above New York’s primary commuter transportation hubs adds another layer to the story.

Chelsea is where you go for brunch if your idea of brunch is being a pretentious douchewhistle, guzzling 10 Mimosas, and then throwing up on the High Line. In other words… brunch.

In joining Boies Schiller in the new Hudson Yards project, Milbank challenges the conventional wisdom in Biglaw real estate. Even Skadden’s decision to move to 1 Manhattan West (at Ninth Avenue and 33rd Street) — an area that David Lat described as “‘unorthodox,’ perhaps downright icky” — isn’t as bold as Milbank’s move to 11th Avenue. The psychological toll of trudging avenue blocks adds up quickly. On Ninth, Skadden is only a couple blocks from Herald Square. At Hudson Yards, Milbank is only a couple of blocks from Weehawken.

Then again, people probably said the same thing when the first firm moved to Midtown six decades ago. I’m sure they were also asked how the firm would survive being so far from the courthouses and the bulk of their clients. But it all seems to have worked out.

And to some extent, this move lets Milbank chart a new course — or perhaps to better reflect the course they’ve been charting in recent years — by designing a whole new office to project their image to the world. Assuming they’ve gambled correctly, Hudson Yards is the new up-and-coming neighborhood. A number of tech, media, and financial services companies are planning to move into the area making it a hotbed for certain categories of clients. If Milbank opts to style its new digs with the sort of “modern, collaborative, entrepreneurial” design, it could find itself right at home with its new neighbors. We’ll have to see in a future “Lawyerly Lairs: Office Edition.”

Still, the big losers in this deal are any partners — or even senior associates — who made real estate decisions based on the 150 years Milbank spent downtown. If some partner plopped down big bucks on some Brooklyn Heights brownstone or an associate got a good deal by buying something looking out over the southern reaches of Prospect Park, their commute just became an unholy crucible or whatever worse phrase describes having to transfer at least once.

There seem to be three other big winners in this deal. First is Queens, who can finally fill up their riverside luxury condos with freshly minted associates excited to jump on the 7 train — the only train that stops reasonably close to Hudson Yards. Good for them… the world needs Mets fans. Beyond that, Long Island and New Jersey — both run out of Penn Station — take over from Westchester as the ideal locales for those with an eye on pulling the full Snake Pilssken. If you’re a law student heading to Milbank, instruct your real estate broker accordingly.

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In any event, Milbank and Boies are banking on a tri-polar Biglaw real estate market. Time will tell.

New Tenant to Lay Down the Law at GDP-Heavy Hudson Yards [Chelsea Now]

Earlier: Lawyerly Lairs: Skadden Makes A Major Move
The First Law Firm To Move To Midtown

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