Am Law 100 firms have drastically reduced square footage per attorney office, but this transition has been slow to reflect in actual efficiencies per attorney.
The Legal Tenant analyzed market lease data collected by Savills Research, and attorney numbers reported to The American Lawyer by firm and The National Law Journal by office in 2024. Over 1,400 Am Law 100 firm locations across the U.S. were reviewed to evaluate their actual space use per reported attorney, rather than space use per attorney seat, and The Legal Tenant found:
- The average efficiency of Am Law 100 offices is 937 square feet per attorney (sf/atty).
- 30.4% of these firms’ locations are in the 750-1,000 sf/atty range, and 37.3% are over 1,000 sf/atty.
- In examining Am Law 100 renewals and relocations over 20,000 square feet (sf), signed in 2023, 44.4% were expansions, 37.8% represented downsizes, and 17.8% stayed in roughly the same amount of space.
The widely used sf/atty metric for Am Law 100 firms continues to be much higher on average than the 500-750 sf/atty target occupancy ratios most firms plan for. Firms at one time planned for 900-1,000 sf/atty, but now aim for significantly lower numbers. We have observed attorney office sizes decreasing for both partners and associates, and law firms are exploring new approaches to utilizing their office space.
Despite the dramatic shift in space planning, actual efficiencies per reported attorney have been sluggish to decline to target levels.
Read the latest Legal Tenant report to learn why this may be and for more benchmarking comparisons among Am Law 100 firms.
