Biglaw

To Hotel Or Not To Hotel? Biglaw's Latest Return-To-Office Struggle

Just look at it as a better way to use your otherwise empty office space.

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Ed. note: Welcome to our daily feature, Quote of the Day.

Firms we talk to say, ‘We’re not paying for a half-empty office. We have to move to some kind of desk-sharing, because we have real estate we’re not going to use. We’re sitting on a time bomb with a lot of this real estate.’

[The most successful firms have reserved a floor as their hoteling floor.] You make that the nicest floor in the whole building. That’s the floor with all the amenities, baristas, most expensive office machines and all the snacks. That’s where you invest in free food.

— Anthony Davies, chief revenue officer of Forrest Solutions, in comments given to the American Lawyer, on the need for law firms to invest in hoteling solutions in their offices. During his interview with Am Law, Davies said that in order to make sure desks are available, firms ought to dedicate at least 20% of their office space for hoteling purposes. On the flip side of the coin, Tom Fulcher, vice chair, head of legal tenant practice group at property agent Savills, told Am Law that many firms are looking at the concept of hoteling as a loss in the war to make attorneys return to the office, with one attorney telling him, “It’s like you gave up.” Fulcher continued, saying, “It’s a big cultural shift. After all efforts to bring people back into the office, you can hotel. Yes, it saves your money, but what is the effect on the firm long term?”

Staci ZaretskyStaci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter and Threads or connect with her on LinkedIn.

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