{"id":161998,"date":"2026-09-01T09:14:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-01T17:14:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/09\/01\/biglaws-wfh-glory-days-arent-coming-back-reading-the-real-estate-deal-tea-leaves\/"},"modified":"2026-09-01T09:14:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-01T17:14:10","slug":"biglaws-wfh-glory-days-arent-coming-back-reading-the-real-estate-deal-tea-leaves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/09\/01\/biglaws-wfh-glory-days-arent-coming-back-reading-the-real-estate-deal-tea-leaves\/","title":{"rendered":"Biglaw\u2019s WFH Glory Days Aren\u2019t Coming Back, Reading The Real Estate Deal Tea Leaves"},"content":{"rendered":"

Legal sector office leasing jumped 17% year-over-year in the first half of 2026, climbing to nearly 12.2 million square feet, according to new figures from Cushman & Wakefield reported by<\/a> Reuters. Law firms accounted for 14% of all office leasing across the 10 major legal markets the brokerage tracks in the second quarter alone. \u201cLaw firms are pretty optimistic about their trajectory,\u201d said David Smith, head of Americas Insights for the Cushman & Wakefield Global Think Tank, possibly the understatement of the fiscal year. The legal sector, per the report, was a \u201ckey driver of demand\u201d as the broader office market claws its way back and tenant demand \u201csteadily\u201d ticks up.<\/p>\n

Manhattan firms have been locked in a space race<\/a>, and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett\u2019s 916,000-square-foot relocation<\/a> \u2014 the single largest legal deal of the quarter, according to Savills \u2014 is the kind of number that would have been unthinkable in 2020, back when landlords were quietly pricing out condo conversions.<\/p>\n

Since 2023<\/a>, Biglaw has been tightening its in-office mandates<\/a> with the enthusiasm of a firm that has somewhere very expensive to put everyone, despite associates making it clear they\u2019ll trade prestige for flexibility<\/a>. Four days a week is increasingly the new floor across Biglaw, with Duane Morris the latest to jump from three to four<\/a> just last week. And Sullivan & Cromwell is leading the pack with five days required in the office<\/a>. The leasing figures make a statement: the work-from-home heyday is behind us \u2014 you don\u2019t ink these deals for a hybrid workforce that turns up when it feels like it.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been trending for a while now<\/a> that firms lease reckless amounts of premium space and then, having done so, discover a sudden and urgent need for everyone to come justify it in person. Three years later, the mandate and the lease have stopped being cause and effect and started being the same gesture. The work-from-home glory days are not coming back.<\/p>\n

Earlier:<\/strong> Biglaw Office Space Driving Best Real Estate Boom This Century<\/a>
Biglaw\u2019s Return-To-Office Push Is Showing Up In Law Firm Real Estate Deals<\/a>
Biglaw\u2019s Three-Day Office Week Is Going Out Of Style<\/a>
Prestige Is Out, Flexibility Is In! But Did Biglaw Get The Memo?<\/a>
Biglaw Lawyers Must Return To The Office To Justify Management\u2019s Reckless Office Space Leases<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of\u00a0The Jabot podcast<\/a>, and co-host of\u00a0Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email\u00a0her<\/a>\u00a0with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter\u00a0@Kathryn1<\/a>\u00a0or Bluesky\u00a0@Kathryn1<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Biglaw\u2019s WFH Glory Days Aren\u2019t Coming Back, Reading The Real Estate Deal Tea Leaves<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n

Legal sector office leasing jumped 17% year-over-year in the first half of 2026, climbing to nearly 12.2 million square feet, according to new figures from Cushman & Wakefield reported by<\/a> Reuters. Law firms accounted for 14% of all office leasing across the 10 major legal markets the brokerage tracks in the second quarter alone. \u201cLaw firms are pretty optimistic about their trajectory,\u201d said David Smith, head of Americas Insights for the Cushman & Wakefield Global Think Tank, possibly the understatement of the fiscal year. The legal sector, per the report, was a \u201ckey driver of demand\u201d as the broader office market claws its way back and tenant demand \u201csteadily\u201d ticks up.<\/p>\n

Manhattan firms have been locked in a space race<\/a>, and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett\u2019s 916,000-square-foot relocation<\/a> \u2014 the single largest legal deal of the quarter, according to Savills \u2014 is the kind of number that would have been unthinkable in 2020, back when landlords were quietly pricing out condo conversions.<\/p>\n

Since 2023<\/a>, Biglaw has been tightening its in-office mandates<\/a> with the enthusiasm of a firm that has somewhere very expensive to put everyone, despite associates making it clear they\u2019ll trade prestige for flexibility<\/a>. Four days a week is increasingly the new floor across Biglaw, with Duane Morris the latest to jump from three to four<\/a> just last week. And Sullivan & Cromwell is leading the pack with five days required in the office<\/a>. The leasing figures make a statement: the work-from-home heyday is behind us \u2014 you don\u2019t ink these deals for a hybrid workforce that turns up when it feels like it.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been trending for a while now<\/a> that firms lease reckless amounts of premium space and then, having done so, discover a sudden and urgent need for everyone to come justify it in person. Three years later, the mandate and the lease have stopped being cause and effect and started being the same gesture. The work-from-home glory days are not coming back.<\/p>\n

Earlier:<\/strong> Biglaw Office Space Driving Best Real Estate Boom This Century<\/a>
Biglaw\u2019s Return-To-Office Push Is Showing Up In Law Firm Real Estate Deals<\/a>
Biglaw\u2019s Three-Day Office Week Is Going Out Of Style<\/a>
Prestige Is Out, Flexibility Is In! But Did Biglaw Get The Memo?<\/a>
Biglaw Lawyers Must Return To The Office To Justify Management\u2019s Reckless Office Space Leases<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

\"\"Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of\u00a0The Jabot podcast<\/a>, and co-host of\u00a0Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email\u00a0her<\/a>\u00a0with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter\u00a0@Kathryn1<\/a>\u00a0or Bluesky\u00a0@Kathryn1<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Legal sector office leasing jumped 17% year-over-year in the first half of 2026, climbing to nearly 12.2 million square feet, according to new figures from Cushman & Wakefield reported by Reuters. Law firms accounted for 14% of all office leasing across the 10 major legal markets the brokerage tracks in the second quarter alone. \u201cLaw […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":161902,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-161998","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xira.com\/p\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/IMG_5243-1-scaled-e1623338814705-620x568-FEsO3S.jpg?fit=620%2C568&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161998","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=161998"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161998\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/161902"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=161998"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=161998"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=161998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}