{"id":1004728549,"date":"2024-09-11T03:52:09","date_gmt":"2024-09-11T11:52:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/?p=1004728549"},"modified":"2024-11-14T13:33:32","modified_gmt":"2024-11-14T21:33:32","slug":"new-york-city-tops-the-charts-for-legal-sector-leasing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/new-york-city-tops-the-charts-for-legal-sector-leasing\/","title":{"rendered":"New York City Tops the Charts for Legal Sector Leasing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

New York City accounted for one-third of all law firm leasing globally in the first half of 2024, according to Savills\u2019 latest report.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Tere<\/a>
Tere Blanca, Founder & CEO, Blanca Commercial Real Estate, told CPE<\/em> that law firms have slowly shifted toward a hybrid work model. Image courtesy of Blanca Commercial Real Estate<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

The city\u2019s leasing activity exceeded 1.4 million square feet of space out of a total of 4.3 million square feet that came under contract across the world\u2019s 15 largest legal markets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The report also found that the flight-to-quality trend continues to raise the price premiums of best-in-class law office assets worldwide, and particularly in the U.S., as top-tier space becomes harder to secure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Overall, 23 percent of practices globally look to expand their space and 44 percent maintain their existing footprint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Savills, U.S. cities accounted for 69 percent of legal leasing activity in the world\u2019s largest markets. This reflects the dominance of American firms<\/a> in the sector overall and the tendency for U.S. legal offices to have a lower occupancy density, thereby requiring more space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fewer legacy meeting rooms<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

One example is that firms are moving away from legacy meeting room booking systems to intelligent solutions that select rooms based on attendance by in-person and remote attendees, easing pressures on meeting rooms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mark Leonard, principal & senior vice president of Lee & Associates, L.A. North\/Ventura told Commercial Property Executive<\/em> that the practice of law has been a continuous growth industry, which is positive news in this slow office industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDespite many lawyers working on the road much of the time, the need for privacy is still a requirement, and therefore, the continued demand for private offices versus shared environments remains a growth aspect of this industry,\u201d Leonard said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

READ ALSO<\/strong>: Tenants Are Leasing More Office Space in Prime Buildings<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

\u201cI continue to see the need for a few collaborative areas on the floor and a very \u2018friendly\u2019 kitchen\/lunchroom environment. Law firms also open satellite offices to support the demand and growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pierre Debbas, co-founder of Romer Debbas, told CPE<\/em> that while most small and large firms have embraced some level of the hybrid model, an attractive office is still important to recruit talent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“As an owner of a law firm, I can attest to the fact that in-person collaboration and training are imperative to managing a law practice,” he said. “This sentiment indicates the legal industry being at the forefront of the office leasing market.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Firms may be re-envisioning how they maximize their square footage, but the need for office space for the legal industry is “unquestioned,” he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cost-efficient space, first impressions<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Tere Blanca, founder, chairman & CEO of Blanca Commercial Real Estate, told CPE<\/em> that law firms have slowly shifted toward a hybrid work model, investing in more cost-efficient and integrated office spaces that foster collaboration and teamwork while optimizing the office space instead of larger office footprints.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLaw firms have become more strategic in navigating the costs of office spaces,\u201d she said. \u201cInstead of relying on large offices with expansive conference rooms that often end up unused, they are designing multipurpose spaces that allow firms to optimize their space while enforcing the collaborative aspect fundamental to law practice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From a design perspective, first impressions are still top of mind for the legal industry, according to Tiffany Scharpf, a design director and senior associate based in IA Interior Architect\u2019s San Francisco studio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She told CPE<\/em> that sustainability in finish materials and construction helps firms demonstrate they \u201cput their money where their mouth is.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOn the West Coast, we still see very few in-office mandates. While hoteling is rare, some firms are exploring this to reduce their footprint,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Larger offices look to get smaller<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Edith Gonzalez, managing director of legal services at JLL Work Dynamics, told CPE<\/em> that JLL found in its Law Firm Perspective report earlier this summer that larger law firms in the market remain focused on space efficiency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She said 79 percent of firms with a current footprint of more than 100,000 square feet are seeking space reductions\u2014by an average of 31 percent. In contrast, smaller firms show a mixed trend, with as many looking to expand their space as looking to reduce their space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

READ ALSO<\/strong>: Manhattan Office Visits Up Year-Over-Year<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

\u201cLaw firms are evaluating workplace design decisions on a sliding scale and exploring more progressive strategies, such as hoteling, while continuing to implement baseline industry-standard practices, such as single-sized offices,\u201d Gonzalez said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Gonzalez, law firm lease rollovers will peak in 2027. \u201cOver the next five years, more than 30 million square feet of law firm leases are expiring in the nine markets reported. Given the reduction in new construction, these firms will face a significantly diminished development pipeline and limited options for high-quality large-block availabilities,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Chicago’s CBD, there has been strong office leasing activity among smaller law firms. However, the sweet spot for these users\u2014around 10,000 square feet\u2014can be hard to come by,\u201d Justin Kessler, managing director of tenant representation practice at Bradford Allen, told CPE<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Only about one-third of available office space in Chicago can accommodate users of that size, and only about 12 percent of available sublease space is less than 25,000 square feet, according to Kessler.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While rents held steady in the second quarter, \u201cmany law firms are finding that there are some great options in the market right now, whether they\u2019re moving from Class C to B buildings or from B to A,\u201d Kessler said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn many metros, including Chicago, these smaller deals drive much of the leasing activity,\u201d continued Kessler. \u201cTo capitalize on the demand, some landlords are building spec law suites that reflect the latest design preferences. Most law firms still want private offices and conference rooms to maintain confidentiality. Still, they\u2019re also gravitating to spaces that include communal work and gathering areas, exposed ceilings, and glass partitions that create separation while making spaces feel lighter and more modern.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

U.S. cities accounted for most of the global activity in the first half, according to Savills.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3568,"featured_media":1004573503,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21784,21808,23891,1600,21742,10,21747,51037],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1004728549","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-brokerage","category-featured","category-national","category-new-york","category-latest","category-northeast","category-office","category-trends"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nNew York City Tops the Charts for Legal Sector Leasing - Commercial Property Executive<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"New York City accounted for one-third of all leasing activity globally in the legal sector in the first half of 2024, according to Savills.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/new-york-city-tops-the-charts-for-legal-sector-leasing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"New York City Tops the Charts for Legal Sector Leasing\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"New York City accounted for one-third of all leasing activity globally in the legal sector in the first half of 2024, according to Savills.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/new-york-city-tops-the-charts-for-legal-sector-leasing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Commercial Property Executive\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CPExecutive\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-09-11T11:52:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-11-14T21:33:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2022\/03\/Blanca-Tere-2.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"775\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Richard Berger\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@cpexecutive\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@cpexecutive\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/new-york-city-tops-the-charts-for-legal-sector-leasing\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/new-york-city-tops-the-charts-for-legal-sector-leasing\/\",\"name\":\"New York City Tops the Charts for Legal Sector Leasing - Commercial Property Executive\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/new-york-city-tops-the-charts-for-legal-sector-leasing\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/new-york-city-tops-the-charts-for-legal-sector-leasing\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2022\/03\/Blanca-Tere-2.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-09-11T11:52:09+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-11-14T21:33:32+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/6d4c5f1b2f682b3604ad9fe73c19fed7\"},\"description\":\"New York City accounted for one-third of all leasing activity globally in the legal sector in the first half of 2024, according to Savills.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/new-york-city-tops-the-charts-for-legal-sector-leasing\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/new-york-city-tops-the-charts-for-legal-sector-leasing\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/new-york-city-tops-the-charts-for-legal-sector-leasing\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2022\/03\/Blanca-Tere-2.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2022\/03\/Blanca-Tere-2.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":775,\"caption\":\"Tere Blanca, Founder & CEO, Blanca Commercial Real Estate. Image courtesy of Blanca Commercial Real Estate\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/new-york-city-tops-the-charts-for-legal-sector-leasing\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"New York City Tops the Charts for Legal Sector Leasing\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Commercial Property Executive\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/6d4c5f1b2f682b3604ad9fe73c19fed7\",\"name\":\"Richard Berger\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bf9a97027a74b606d01db57720228242e692d3db9d827930b02ed8baaf3623a4?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bf9a97027a74b606d01db57720228242e692d3db9d827930b02ed8baaf3623a4?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Richard Berger\"},\"description\":\"Richard Berger has 20+ years of experience covering commercial real estate for various media sites and CRE-related associations. He lives in Northern Virginia.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/author\/richardberger\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"New York City Tops the Charts for Legal Sector Leasing - Commercial Property Executive","description":"New York City accounted for one-third of all leasing activity globally in the legal sector in the first half of 2024, according to Savills.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/new-york-city-tops-the-charts-for-legal-sector-leasing\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"New York City Tops the Charts for Legal Sector Leasing","og_description":"New York City accounted for one-third of all leasing activity globally in the legal sector in the first half of 2024, according to Savills.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/new-york-city-tops-the-charts-for-legal-sector-leasing\/","og_site_name":"Commercial Property Executive","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CPExecutive","article_published_time":"2024-09-11T11:52:09+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-11-14T21:33:32+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1000,"height":775,"url":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2022\/03\/Blanca-Tere-2.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Richard Berger","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@cpexecutive","twitter_site":"@cpexecutive","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/new-york-city-tops-the-charts-for-legal-sector-leasing\/","url":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/new-york-city-tops-the-charts-for-legal-sector-leasing\/","name":"New York City Tops the Charts for Legal Sector Leasing - Commercial Property Executive","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/new-york-city-tops-the-charts-for-legal-sector-leasing\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/new-york-city-tops-the-charts-for-legal-sector-leasing\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2022\/03\/Blanca-Tere-2.jpg","datePublished":"2024-09-11T11:52:09+00:00","dateModified":"2024-11-14T21:33:32+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/6d4c5f1b2f682b3604ad9fe73c19fed7"},"description":"New York City accounted for one-third of all leasing activity globally in the legal sector in the first half of 2024, according to Savills.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/new-york-city-tops-the-charts-for-legal-sector-leasing\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/new-york-city-tops-the-charts-for-legal-sector-leasing\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/new-york-city-tops-the-charts-for-legal-sector-leasing\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2022\/03\/Blanca-Tere-2.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2022\/03\/Blanca-Tere-2.jpg","width":1000,"height":775,"caption":"Tere Blanca, Founder & CEO, Blanca Commercial Real Estate. Image courtesy of Blanca Commercial Real Estate"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/new-york-city-tops-the-charts-for-legal-sector-leasing\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"New York City Tops the Charts for Legal Sector Leasing"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/","name":"Commercial Property Executive","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/6d4c5f1b2f682b3604ad9fe73c19fed7","name":"Richard Berger","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bf9a97027a74b606d01db57720228242e692d3db9d827930b02ed8baaf3623a4?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bf9a97027a74b606d01db57720228242e692d3db9d827930b02ed8baaf3623a4?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Richard Berger"},"description":"Richard Berger has 20+ years of experience covering commercial real estate for various media sites and CRE-related associations. He lives in Northern Virginia.","url":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/author\/richardberger\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2022\/03\/Blanca-Tere-2.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1004728549","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3568"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1004728549"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1004728549\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1004737377,"href":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1004728549\/revisions\/1004737377"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1004573503"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1004728549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1004728549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1004728549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}