Offices are getting smaller as attorneys spend fewer days in them post-pandemic but they’re unlikely to lose the features that make them private and secure, says Joe Gowing, principal of design firm Perkins&Will's Austin, Texas, studio. 

The days of spreading out in double-sized offices are waning as attorneys increasingly settle for single-sized offices, typically 10 x 15 or even as small as 10 x 10, Gowing said in an interview. 

“Now that attorneys are working more remotely, we’re seeing an increase in smaller touchdown – or what I would call cockpit – offices,” said Gowing. “This would allow attorneys to come in and do some heads-down work. But really it’s just a place to touch down when you’re in the office for meetings and coordinating with your practice groups.”

What goes for law firm offices goes for the offices of in-house legal teams, although in-house teams are likely to have fewer private conference rooms and spend less on best-in-class video conferencing technology. 

“Corporate attorneys will be largely reviewing contracts, whereas a law firm might be hosting visiting attorneys and doing depositions,” he said. “So, the corporate team wouldn’t require as many secure meeting rooms or conference rooms, and they may not require as good video conference systems.”

Separate suite

The corporate teams whose offices he’s worked on reflect the traditional design idea of keeping the legal department physically separate from the broader organization, but at the same time, as with law firms, there’s an effort to make the offices more approachable and welcoming. 

“I think transparency and visibility for attorneys have changed over time,” he said. “You want to be more approachable and you want to also let daylight penetrate through your office to the interior core.”

But offices with hard floor to ceiling walls and a door aren’t going away because of the unchanging importance of privacy and security along with the need for quiet when attorneys have to do heads-down work.

“When you have to read a brief or work on a contract, you need that reduced acoustical noise,” he said.

Most clients, whether corporate legal team or law firm, ask for walls with best-in-class sound transmission coefficient, or STC, a standard for regulating the amount of noise that gets through.

At the same time, the front of individual offices tend to be glass as part of the movement to make attorneys more visible and approachable.

“You want to also let daylight penetrate through your office to the interior core,” he said.

Social focus

Another impact of remote work is an increased focus on common spaces. Because attorneys are coming in less frequently, when they do come in it often is in tandem with meetings, informal and formal, so the amount and variety of common areas is a focus. 

“You want to have more spaces to be with your practice groups and the other attorneys,” he said.

Along with more casual dress requirements, office space is becoming more casual, with fewer fixed chairs, for example, but the design is still intended to communicate professionalism and success, and to reflect timelessness – that is, to have a fresh and contemporary look even if the furniture isn’t updated for several years. 

“If the lease goes beyond 10 years, you don’t want to have to renovate,” he said. 

In a big difference for legal assistants and other support staff, office space changes could be seen as an upgrade, because for many of them, their workstations are being converted into small, hard-walled offices with doors. That’s not so much for privacy but to make it easier to keep distance between them and others if there’s another viral outbreak. 

“I think that’s more of a reaction to COVID,” he said. “What was traditionally an open work station in some instances they’ve built a small office with a door, so everyone has separation, individual privacy.”