For much of the legal profession’s history, having a large and impressive office was seemingly an important part of running a successful law firm. Firms often occupied prime real estate in expensive parts of town, and attorneys might have private offices, conference rooms, and all of the other amenities associated with practicing law. Clients visiting a firm could presumably be impressed by the surroundings, and perhaps an expensive office conveyed that a law firm was successful enough to afford the space.

However, the COVID-19 pandemic changed many of the assumptions lawyers had about office space. Attorneys learned that they could perform much of their work remotely, and clients became accustomed to meeting lawyers over Zoom rather than traveling to an office. Nevertheless, plenty of law firms still spend substantial sums on office space, and I am increasingly unsure why firms want to commit so much money to overhead that can be difficult to reduce when circumstances change.

We recently moved our own law firm into a smaller office. Our prior space was not enormous by law firm standards, but we simply did not need all of the room we had. Like many firms, my law partner and I spend some of our time working remotely, and there were plenty of occasions when significant portions of our office were empty. Maintaining space simply because we already had it did not seem like a particularly compelling reason to keep paying for it.

Since moving, the smaller office has had essentially no impact on our operations. We still have enough space to accomplish everything we need to do in person, and we can work remotely when that makes more sense. Clients rarely visit our office, and when they do, we have perfectly adequate facilities to meet with them. The biggest difference is simply that the firm spends less money each month on rent.

Some law firms have legitimate reasons to maintain substantial office space. Certain practices involve frequent in-person meetings, and some firms may believe that having lawyers physically together improves collaboration and training. Larger firms may also need considerable space simply because hundreds or thousands of people work for them. And there is presumably still some marketing value in having an impressive address and office, particularly for firms serving certain types of clients.

Still, law firms should probably think much harder about whether those benefits justify the expense. Rent is different from many of the other costs involved in running a law firm because it is relatively difficult to adjust quickly. A law firm that signs a lengthy lease for far more space than it needs might be stuck paying for that decision for years.

This inflexibility seems especially strange in the post-COVID world. One of the biggest lessons of the pandemic was that circumstances can change remarkably quickly. Firms that thought they needed enormous offices suddenly discovered that nearly everyone could work from home. Even after offices reopened, many lawyers did not return five days a week, and hybrid work became a permanent feature of the legal profession.

The amount of space a firm needs can also change for reasons that have nothing to do with a pandemic. A firm might lose a major client and need fewer attorneys. Several lawyers might leave together. Alternatively, a firm might grow quickly and discover that the office it committed to several years earlier no longer fits its needs. In each situation, a long-term commitment to expensive real estate can make adapting more difficult.

Perhaps part of this is cultural. Lawyers are accustomed to seeing successful law firms occupy impressive offices, and partners who spent their careers working in such spaces might associate a large office with professional success. There can also be a certain satisfaction in showing up every morning to an office with an impressive view and a prestigious address. None of those considerations are necessarily irrational, but law firm leaders should at least recognize that they are making a choice rather than paying an unavoidable expense.

I am not suggesting that law firms eliminate physical offices altogether. I like having an office, and there are plenty of situations in which working together in person is useful. But there is a substantial difference between having enough space to operate effectively and maintaining far more space than a firm actually needs.

Moving into a smaller office reinforced this point for me. Our work continues exactly as it did before, clients still receive the same service, and we still have a physical place to work when we want or need one. We simply have less unnecessary overhead.

The legal profession learned during the pandemic that law firms can be far more flexible than many lawyers previously believed. It therefore seems odd that some law firms make extremely inflexible decisions about office space.

Jordan Rothman is a partner of The Rothman Law Firm, a full-service New York and New Jersey law firm. He is also the founder of Student Debt Diaries, a website discussing how he paid off his student loans. You can reach Jordan through email at jordan@rothman.law.

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