Global megafirm Baker McKenzie is continuing its push to streamline operations — and this time, the cuts are hitting bricks and mortar.
According to a report from the American Lawyer, the firm is shutting down its Tampa, Florida back-office facility as part of a broader restructuring effort that shifts more business services work to remote operations.
“Baker McKenzie will no longer maintain a traditional office footprint in Tampa beginning later this year and will transition to a remote working environment,” a firm spokesperson said. “The firm will leverage flexible collaboration spaces as needed to support in-person connection and teamwork.”
The spokesperson said Tampa-based employees will continue to partner with colleagues across the globe to provide full-service support to its business and clients.
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The move follows a wider shakeup within the firm’s professional staff ranks. Just last month, Baker McKenzie announced that it was planning sweeping cuts to its global business services teams — potentially affecting more than 700 employees across functions like IT, marketing, admin, and knowledge management — as the firm reviewed how it delivers internal services and leaned more heavily on technology and AI-driven efficiencies.
The Tampa closure now looks less like an isolated real estate decision and more like another piece of a much larger restructuring puzzle. As firms experiment with automation, remote work, and centralized operations, support staff — and the offices they once worked in — may increasingly find themselves on the chopping block. If the firm’s latest move is any indication, the changes we flagged earlier may only be the beginning.
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Baker McKenzie Shutters Tampa Back Office as Part of Restructuring Push [American Lawyer]
Earlier: Top 10 Biglaw Firm To Conduct ‘Massive’ Layoff, Leaving Hundreds Jobless Thanks To AI
Staci Zaretsky is the managing editor of 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 Bluesky, X/Twitter, and Threads, or connect with her on LinkedIn.