Biglaw

Biglaw Firm's Plan To Slash Office Space By 20 Percent

It saves the firm a boatload of money.

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Work from home in COVID-19 virus outbreak, social distancing company allow employee work at home to prevent virus infection, young woman working on sofa with cat look outside to see virus pathogens.Duane Morris chief executive officer Matthew Taylor said the firm is planning on cutting its office space by a whopping 20 percent over the next five years. And they’re in a great position to do so as 75 percent of the firm’s office space leases are due to expire over that time frame. The plan to cut the real estate investment involves smaller partner suites, shared desks, and, of course, more remote work options.

These new plans represent a major cost savings — Taylor said, “That’s opportunity knocking.” As reported by Bloomberg Law, the plans to cut back on office space are already well underway:

Now at 635 square feet per attorney, Duane Morris plans to reach about 500 square feet per lawyer by 2027, Taylor said. It already shrunk its space by almost half in Wilmington, Del., 35% in Atlanta and 24% in Boston, bringing “major savings.” He said he has an overall cost-saving target in mind though declined to share it.

The firm is moving towards “hot desks” and embracing being “nimble” post-pandemic. And those big, cushy partner offices that were once a staple of Biglaw life? Taylor says they’re a thing of the past.

The firm decided partners didn’t need to have “big, huge” offices anymore, and none have pushed back on that idea, Taylor said. “I have not had one partner complain about the size of their office is smaller,” he said.

And the strategy — along with lots of work in M&A, private equity deals, and trials — resulted in increased revenue last year of $596.5 million, 13 percent over 2020.

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Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).

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