This was the traditional law office layout and probably what we most associate with today. It was about the perception of a lawyer being solipsistic, favouring to operate on their own and being surrounded by solid doors and walls in preference to an open plan environment. Added to this is how a workspace is reflective of the success of the firm, hence why they tend to occupy some of the highest quality premium and Grade A buildings in the CBD.

Not surprisingly the general range of gross densities for medium to large sized legal workspaces varies from 16sq m to just over 23sq m per person. Whereas professional services and banking industries are now aiming for around nine to twelve square metres per person.

Law firms since the GFC

Since the GFC there has been quite a turnabout, with professional services considering ways to become more flexible and adapting to workspace in an effort to reduce costs. The perception has been that law firms are late out of the starting box, still holding on to traditional space requirements, and workspace design.

So do law firms need to change?

A little, yes. We are now beginning to see a small shift. Legal workspaces are now starting to look at being space efficient, reflecting a higher priority placed on cost effective flexibility rather than just status and hierarchy. Although the nature of legal firms is still based around confidentiality (and this is becoming more important), and at times does require some degree of privacy, they are now finding ways to circumvent this with hybrid layouts, creating a combination of open plan and cellurised office space. We have seen that the UK has led the way in setting legal workspace trends to a certain extent (completely open plan, shared offices, consolidated office services outside city centres, bringing clients into the workspace etc), and may slowly be influencing Australian firms through globalisation.

What does the future hold for legal firms?

It is not for us to predict. What is important though, and as project managers, is that we provide the opportunities for our clients to have the best suited enablers (for example, change consultants, workspace specialists, technology specialists, quantity surveyors) to provide access to the opportunities that can allow each legal firm to determine what is the right real estate strategy for their firm in order to optimise their business performance, improve their culture, and allow for as much flexibility in the future. Each solution should be bespoke for each legal firm, and should not simply follow a trend.