Many of D.C.'s largest law firms found new—and smaller—homes this summer - Washington Business Journal - Washington Business Journal

Several D.C. law firms have been on the move this year to new — and, more significantly, smaller — homes.

In the past three months alone, nine law firms have inked leases for a combined 540,000 square feet in D.C., with all but one of them relocating to new digs.

More notably, many of these firms are downsizing, showing just how quickly the legal workforce has shifted during the Covid-19 pandemic — and dealing a significant blow to the local real estate landscape given its reliance on large law firm leases. In 2021 alone, local law firms have shed at least 239,750 square feet of office, 91% of that in the District and the remainder in Northern Virginia, as they either move or ink smaller leases, according to CBRE data.

"There's a lot of interest in what we're doing in the legal world," said Bob Burger, chief operating officer of Sterne Kessler Goldstein & Fox PLLC, which is downsizing its home by 42% to occupy 71,000 square feet at 1101 K St. NW. "We think this is how the law business is going to be in 10 years. It's got to be more remote-enabled and adaptable space."

The industry's largest dispenser of space thus far this year, per CBRE's data, is Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP, which announced Oct. 4 it signed a 16-year lease for 163,750 square feet, or more than half of the building being developed at 1700 M St. NW. The firm's 346 staff will move from its current home at 1050 Connecticut Ave. NW, where it had resided in 205,000 square feet since 2012. The company, which is dropping 41,250 square feet in the process, a 20% space reduction, didn't comment further on its planned move.

CBRE data shows another eight law firms leased a combined 377,000 square feet in the third quarter. Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP is slimming from 72,300 square feet at 2900 K St. NW to 55,300 square feet at 1919 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, while Rothwell Figg Ernst & Manbeck PC is downsizing from 42,200 square feet at 607 14th St. NW to 31,200 square feet at 901 New York Ave. NW. Neither firm commented on its move.

Within these smaller spaces, the firms are exploring new ideas about how to work. Chris Camarra, a partner at law firm Holland & Knight LLP, pointed to some firms considering plans for lawyers to share the same office, but to check in at different times of the week, during a Sept. 29panel held bythe Greater Washington Board of Trade.

"Firms have been looking at this for some time, and I think all of the professional services segment is experimenting," Camarra said on the panel.

Not every law firm is opting to downsize, though, while others are actually expanding. CBRE noted, for instance, a new 15,000-square-foot office for Cincinnati-based Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP in the District, at 200 Massachusetts Ave. NW.

And Mayer Brown LLP opted to renew its 175,000-square-foot office at 1999 K St. NW just before the pandemic began. But while employees were working remotely through the summer, the firm took that time to completely renovate the space to take more hybrid work schedules and collaborative areas into account, said Liz Espin Stern, managing partner of the D.C. office.

“There is a craving for connecting," she said, "so the first order of business will be using our space to incite collaboration and connectivity in person."

Largest Law Firms in Greater D.C.

Ranked by Metro-area lawyers

Rank	Firm	Metro-area lawyers
1	Covington & Burling LLP	761
2	Hogan Lovells	502
3	Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP	414
View This List

source: https://www.bizjournals.com/washington/news/2021/10/13/dc-largest-law-firms-are-downsizing-real-estate-hq.html

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