Director of Interiors
Toronto
Caitlin Turner
Tara Roscoe
Director of Design, Interiors
New York
New York
Designing the future of the legal workplace.
Legal practices are looking at the office in a new light. Questions they are asking include:
- How can space help recruit top talent and mentor the new generation?
- What office environment best supports our clients and our practice?
- How can we make spaces future-ready and flex to changing needs?
- How much office space do we need to support our hybrid workforce?
HOK recently surveyed law firms across North America, asking these same questions and more. To aid our research, we poured over benchmarking data from law industry sources and reviewed existing legal workplace projects to gather contextual and comparative information and insights. We also looked at how our clients in other sectors, such as consulting and financial services, are modernizing their offices and how those spaces compare to modern law offices.
Where We Are / Where We Are Headed
Below are some of the main takeaways from our 2024 survey of law firms:
Hybrid (for now): The majority of firms responding to our survey now work in a hybrid manner, with staff coming into the office two to three days per week. Although these firms have adopted hybrid work policies, many are redesigning their spaces with an eye on eventually returning to full-time occupancy.
Shifting real estate needs: Most firms reported a desire to maintain or reduce their overall real estate portfolio (if they have not already done so). Firms are also using the office differently than they did pre-pandemic, with a greater focus on flexibility and drawing staff together to generate buzz and foster community. While workplaces are generally shrinking in size, law firms still average around 600-800 square feet (55-85 sq. m.) of floorplate per attorney.
Individual and single-size offices: One-to-one office assignments remain popular within the legal sector compared to other professional service sectors. Attorneys reported a desire to have their own personal space to support their primary work functions of reading, analyzing, writing and corresponding. Single-size offices are gaining popularity as firms look for ways to make it easier to reconfigure their workplaces and create more space for meeting rooms and shared amenities.
Technology: Technology plays a bigger role than ever in the legal workplace, with firms using hardware and software tools to communicate with clients and the courts, digitize files, create educational and branding content, and experiment with emerging AI tools. Survey respondents reported a desire to make workplace technology more robust, flexible and intuitive.
Culture and amenities: Today’s workplace must also compete with people’s home offices. Survey respondents reported placing a greater emphasis on wellness and dining amenities and using upgraded, hospitality-inspired furnishings. Respondents also saw the workplace as key to creating and maintaining team culture and fostering mentorship and connections.
In the following sections, we dive deeper into the trends that are influencing the present and future of law offices.
Optimization + Flexibility
Law firms are increasingly optimizing their offices with adaptable workspaces that can adjust to changing work styles, team sizes and technology requirements. Designers can facilitate this shift by implementing modular planning, which allows the office to respond to evolving needs.
Modern legal workplaces can be reconfigured to accommodate additional space, different types of work settings and emerging technologies. This approach stands in contrast to traditional law office design, which often neglected factors like flexibility, scalability and adaptability.
Flexible and modular workspaces empower organizations to maximize their resources and use space efficiently while minimizing costs and disruptions. With the ability to perform light-touch renovations and furniture reconfigurations, planning blocks can be rearranged to align with changing requirements.
Offices + Meeting Rooms
Modern legal workplaces offer employees a variety of space types and settings for solo and group work. Attorneys have always required private spaces to perform concentrative work and communicate privately with clients, yet the function and feel of today’s private offices are evolving as more firms adopt standard-size offices and attorneys spend more of their time communicating with clients and courts via video. Meeting rooms are also evolving to be more adaptable to accommodate both in-person meetings and video conferences.
Below are examples of how firms are incorporating new solo and group spaces into the workplace:
Highly complex spaces: These designated areas offer individuals a place to focus and concentrate on complex tasks. These spaces should be acoustically sound and provide good lighting (ideally natural light) to create a comfortable and stimulating work environment.
Private offices with alternative work points: These flexible private spaces can be adapted to individual needs and preferences, such as the ability to work standing or sitting. These workplaces can also have alternative work points, such as semi-enclosed and open office options that cater to different work styles and collaboration requirements.
Optimized private offices: These private offices are optimized for heads-down work while remaining flexible enough to accommodate small group meetings of 2-4 people. This can be achieved by offering a kit of parts with curated options for furniture and layout, allowing individuals to customize their workspace based on their specific needs.
High-performance micro-offices: These small, individual-only offices allow attorneys to perform concentrative work in a soundproof, distraction-free space.
Meeting rooms: Today’s meeting room needs to accommodate more than just the people in the room. Fluid meeting spaces are using technology and furniture to support in-person and virtual attendees. Smart room navigators and embedded wall monitors provide intuitive, easy access to meeting rooms and remote participants. Furniture in these spaces is also changing to ensure everyone participating in a the meeting can see and be seen.
By incorporating these elements into the workplace, law firms can provide an environment that supports attorneys’ primary activities while accommodating the diverse needs and preferences of employees, which is important for retention and productivity.
Tools + Technology
Modern law offices are leveraging technology to provide employees greater control over their work environment and the ability to connect with internal and external partners. At the same time, technology is allowing firms to store fewer paper files at the office, freeing up space for other uses. Advancements in technology, particularly artificial intelligence, could further reduce the need for certain staffing roles, including administrative assistants and paralegals.
Here are a few ways law firms are using technology to enhance and reshape the office:
Data storage and admin services: Technology is being used to free up real estate within the legal workplace as never before. Documents are being digitized instead of housed on-site in row after row of file cabinets. Space needs for administrative assistants is also declining with project and planning software allowing attorneys to perform certain admin tasks themselves. More admins are also being allowed to work remotely, further reducing the need for on-site desking.
Virtual hearing rooms: More and more courts are allowing virtual hearings. While certainly more convenient than trudging into court, these remote hearings still follow the same rules and decorum as in-person sessions. To ensure their attorneys comply with court regulations and best represent themselves and their clients, firms are now creating specialized virtual hearing rooms within the office. These tech-enabled spaces include high-quality cameras, speakers and mics; excellent lighting and acoustics; and clean backgrounds as required by the court.
Education and branding: Media rooms outfitted with recording equipment and greenscreens or branded backdrops are being used to create promotional and educational content, such as podcasts and webinars, which can be used for branding as well as recruitment.
While technology offers many advantages, it should be implemented in ways that align with the unique needs and practices of the legal profession. Balancing the benefits of technology with the privacy, security and ethical considerations inherent to the legal field is crucial for successful implementation and adoption.
Community + Culture
The office is critical for the support and development of firm culture. As echoed in our recent survey, attorneys viewed the workplace as particularly important for fostering collegiality and mentorship and aiding in recruitment and retention. Here are three ways that workplace design can help foster culture and connections:
Interconnected stairs: Interconnected stairs open up the workplace, providing views across departments and allowing for serendipitous encounters among colleagues. Informal seating areas adjacent to these stairways allow people to continue conversations and create community.
Convertible cafés and lobbies: Flexible dining and reception areas allow firms to leverage their real estate. Such spaces can perform double duty by serving a primary function and also transforming, as need be, to host client events, all-hands meetings and other large gatherings.
Branding and culture: The office is the physical embodiment of a firm and an important tool for shaping brand and culture. Artwork, wall graphics and signage infused within the office help tell the firm’s story and reinforce its vision and goals for clients, visitors and new employees.
Health + Wellness
Organizations are placing greater emphasis on health and wellness in the workplace, and law firms are no exception. Spaces that support choice, relieve stress and foster community can help employees manage work-life balance, resulting in happier and more productive staff, which aids in recruitment and retention. Here are some ways law firms are prioritizing health and wellness within the office:
Nature and daylight: Studies have shown that biophilia—access to nature and daylight—improves physical and emotional health. Ways that law firms are introducing biophilia into the office include green walls and live plantings, furniture and finishes made from natural materials, rugs and wall graphics with organic shapes and diffused lighting. Wi-Fi-enabled terraces and decks are another great way firms are providing staff with access to the outdoors while remaining connected.
Wellness rooms: The legal profession can be stressful. Dedicated rooms for individual meditation and prayer or quiet group activities, such as yoga and tai-chi, help attorneys and staff to support their mental health. Many firms are also providing lactation rooms for new mothers to further promote work-life balance and whole family health.
Gyms and showers: On-site exercise rooms and showers allow employees to exercise before and after work or even during the lunch hour. On-site bike and scooter storage is another way law firms are encouraging physical fitness and active commuting.
Fuel stations: Many firms are looking beyond central dining hubs to also include spaces where employees can refuel throughout the day. These spaces can include coffee bars or grab-and-go fuel stations. Healthy food options are particularly popular, with some firms providing juice, kombucha and fresh fruit. On the flip side, some firms are also including bespoke spaces for employees to unwind, socialize and entertain with in-house bars and speakeasies.
Ergonomics and choice: Furniture selection and work setting choices are important, with attorneys and staff wanting the option to sit and stand while working and to work from different spaces within the office. This type of work setting choice supports employees across the neurodiversity spectrum from hyposensitive individuals (those who prefer greater stimulation) to hypersensitive individuals (those who prefer quiet and solitude).
Let's Connect
Today’s legal workplace is characterized by a distinct look, feel and functionality that is remarkably different from the dark-wood, hierarchy-based law offices of the past. These tech-infused, highly flexible offices are perhaps most notable for the choices they provide employees, allowing them to find a work setting that best meets their immediate needs. But the benefits don’t stop there.
The modern law office also caters to the emotional and physical health of its employees, aids in recruitment and retention, and supports corporate culture and branding. Best of all, these innovative spaces often do more for less, requiring less physical real estate than traditional law offices while having a bigger impact on productivity and profitability.
| Caitlin Turner | Tara Roscoe |
| Director of Interiors, Canada | Director of Design, Interiors |
| caitlin.turner@hok.com | tara.roscoe@hok.com |
