Transforming law offices: the verdict is in

Law can be a rewarding career but it’s undoubtedly a demanding one. Lawyers need a high degree of expertise and meticulous attention to detail to serve their clients well. Long hours at the office are fairly common.

Law office designs

A law firm’s offices need to support the work done there.

Your law firm’s office space should enable staff to:

• Concentrate on research, prepare arguments or draft contracts
• Meet clients and other stakeholders
• Maintain confidentiality
• Collaborate with other members of the legal team.

Enhance your professional image

Law firms must continue to win new business. A sophisticated and professional interior design reflects the firm’s values, history and expertise.

A dingy office with paperwork piled up on every desk communicates disorder and ineptitude. A light and tidy one communicates competence and efficiency.

Your decor choices can also help tell your firm’s story. Classic choices like leather sofas, wooden furniture and paintings emphasise longevity while glass, aluminium or modern art look to the future.

Improve client experience – and protect the rest of the office

Clients will not be wandering around your offices (hopefully). They’ll usually be waiting in the reception area before being led to a meeting room. Those areas in particular should present your firm’s best image to foster trust and confidence in your services.

Your front-of-house experience may include:

• A pleasant reception area that feels like a hotel lobby
• Comfortable seating while clients wait
• Convenient access to meeting rooms.

But your front desk also has another purpose. It’s meant to welcome guests while deterring them from going further unless accompanied. That’s because your legal team needs to concentrate on their work.

An overlooked recruitment tool

There’s a tendency to think of job interviews as your chance to evaluate potential employees. It’s easy to forget that they’re assessing you too.

Bright, ambitious lawyers are usually in demand. They’re likely to receive job offers from several law firms – and you want them to choose yours.

A stylish office that presents a highly professional image is therefore a valuable recruitment and retention tool. It can help to turn your firm into the company of choice for lawyers with serious career ambitions.

Areas for focused work

Legal work involves careful attention to detail. Lawyers, paralegals and administrative staff need to be able to concentrate on their work to get it right the first time.

Even in open plan areas, you can use plants or storage cabinets to partition certain areas to create a defined working area for different groups of staff.

Desks should be large enough to read paperwork while offering plenty of storage to avoid clutter.

While you can’t necessarily offer a private office to every staff member, you may consider an acoustic pod. This is akin to a soundproofed phone booth to which staff can retreat when they need to concentrate.

Acoustic and visual separation

Privacy and confidentiality are important aspects of legal ethics. Clients don’t want the whole office listening in. Your meeting rooms and individual offices can support this through features like soundproofing and frosted glass.

Social spaces within your law office

Lawyers work long hours, often long into the evening. Your staff will be spending a considerable amount of their week in the office so make it a pleasant place for them.

A large, well-equipped kitchen and breakout space means staff have somewhere pleasant to eat lunch (or dinner) and socialise with colleagues.

These spaces add value to your business too – use them for client events or informal staff training sessions.

Technology integration

Integrated technology enables staff to work in a variety of spaces throughout the office. This supports a dynamic workspace where staff can use different spaces depending on their need (focus or collaboration, for example) or mood (private space versus the buzz of the kitchen area).

Integrating technology also enables you to grow in your space. What starts out as an informal lounge area now with sofas and a coffee table could turn into a space for 4 new desks if necessary because the tech is already in place.

How can we help?

Law is an immensely varied discipline and your office design needs to reflect the work you do and the clients you support.

At Growth Workplace Design, we begin by learning about your company. We explore how your team works, what your clients need and how your floorplan can maximise productivity. We’ll also consider how you could use ‘third spaces’ to improve staff wellbeing and build a strong company culture.

If you’re considering what’s next for your law offices, we’d love to help you. Please contact us to discuss your space.