Biglaw

Another Biglaw Firm Moving To Hudson Yards

Look who's moving off the beaten path.

By  
on

After generations upon generations of parsing the New York legal industry between downtown and midtown, there’s a new pole in the Manhattan office market. We’ve been covering the slow burn of firms announcing moves to the new Hudson Yards project, with Boies Schiller and Milbank both committing to a future life on the far, far, West Side. One firm was an outlier, a second was a curiosity. With a third major firm making the leap, we have an official trend.

Cooley LLP has just signed a lease that will move its New York office to Eleventh Avenue. The Palo Alto-based firm, currently located in the Grace Building on the Avenue of the Americas[1], will be moving into 130,000 square feet over five upper floors at the 51-story, 55 Hudson Yards building.

It makes sense for Cooley, a firm synonymous with Silicon Valley, to buy into the new development that’s being billed as the city’s new home for tech innovators. If the clients are buying into that image, then there’s no reason the firm shouldn’t join them. After all, isn’t that the same thinking that uprooted Cooley from San Francisco to Palo Alto in the 80s?

While the move is still a ways off, the firm’s website offers a glimpse of what the offices might look like with these artist’s renderings.

Here’s the expected view over the Hudson River:

For some reason when I look at that image, all I can see is this:

Sponsored

For the record, every time someone points to 55 Hudson Yards I’m going to somberly declare, “That’s no moon.”

Here’s another look at that massive window:

Not exactly dispelling the Death Star comparisons, but this angle evokes another idea for me. With people standing in each of these windows looking out, I can’t help but say, “I’ll take Cooley CEO Joe Conroy for the block.” Seriously, if some enterprising group of associates wants to put cardboard cutouts of Charles Nelson Reilly and Jim J. Bullock — or the cast of the Brady Bunch — in their windows and get someone in another building to take a picture, I will happily write it up. Sadly, this may not be possible since Cooley is expected to take over upper floors where the windows are more rectangular than on lower floors. Alas, someone needs to make this happen.

Sponsored

But these are just pics of the outside. We eagerly await our tour of the finished product.

While there’s no such thing as a working subway line in New York these days[2], once this move is complete, times will be especially hard on all those attorneys and staff who made housing decisions based on the firm’s current location. The 7 Train does get you to Hudson Yards, but unless you’re in Queens, that means you’re making a transfer. If you’re a 2L with a Cooley offer this Fall, perhaps it’s time to familiarize yourself with all Long Island City has to offer.

But look on the bright side — you’ll be able to get to the airport from your office faster.

Cooley Inks Deal to Move NYC Office to 55 Hudson Yards [Cooley]

Earlier: The Hot New Location For Biglaw?
The Smartest Trip You’ll Ever Take In Your Biglaw Career

[1] Which is a complete fraud. The Grace Building doesn’t in any way touch the Avenue of the Americas, but it trots around a prestigious avenue address. New York has a number of buildings that try to cheat geographic logic to improve their stationery, and it’s an abomination that has to stop. Has anyone else been bothered by this or is it just me?
[2] Thanks to Albany Law’s pride and joy, Governor Andrew Cuomo!

HeadshotJoe Patrice is an editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news.

Topics

, , , , , , ,