After decades of stasis in legal office design, Knoll Workplace Research finds today's law firms faced with unprecedented change in the law office environment.

If a time-lapse camera could document an American law office since 1900, the first three quarter-centuries would show a timeless world of magisterial legal suites, law libraries and conference rooms, all appointed in 18th-century-style furnishings and accessories. Over the years, telephones, typewriters and dictation machines would arrive unobtrusively. But only in the fourth quarter would the stately setting begin to unravel, as computers, on-line reference services, the Internet and a parade of trained paralegals and frugal clients made their way inside. As recent Knoll Workplace Research reveals, economic, social and technological forces challenge the contemporary law office environment as never before.

The law office environment is yielding to change. The pace of practice is quickening due to circumstances similar to what the business world faced in the 1980s and 1990s. With clients involved in more volatile, complex and far-reaching problems demanding quality service at higher speed and lower cost; with organizations trying to cap legal expenses through in-house attorneys, paralegals, accounting firms and dispute resolution services; and with new information technologies encouraging attorneys to take charge of their own research, communications, record keeping and scheduling, it's no wonder yesterday's static law office is yielding to something new and uncertain.

Dismantling the legal suite
Consider how a typical day at the law office has evolved in the last quarter century.

• Attorneys spend more time collaborating on group work that takes place in war rooms, case rooms and other multiple occupancy spaces, diminishing the value and justification for legal suites, which are declining in popularity.
• To control expenses, attorneys reduce floor area wherever possible, increasing the density of on-site record storage, asking attorneys to share legal secretaries and dismissing partners who don't bring enough business to their firms.
• New technologies have eclipsed older ways of working, as attorneys look to Lexis and the Internet for research and communications, print hard copy editions of electronic documents, scan non-essential documents for electronic storage, test wireless technology and relegate the once proud law library to an interior location.

As recent Knoll Workplace Research reveals, economic, social and technological forces challenge the contemporary law office environment as never before.

The Knoll Workplace Research Study
The 2003 Law Firm Benchmarking/Trend Study, a recent survey of current practices and expectations for change among law firms conducted by Knoll Workplace Research, documents how top U.S. and Canadian law firms are experiencing these trends, and highlights their ambivalence about trading traditional ways for modern efficiency. Thirty-seven firms in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, New York, Philadelphia, Toronto and Washington, D.C., participated. The firms surveyed had an average total employment of 803 at all locations, an average employment of 190 by city and an average attorney to staff ratio of 1:1.2.

How do these firms feel about trends in technology, work style, office accommodations and storage?

Technology: While early adopters experiment with wireless technology, over 90 percent of employees have Internet access, over 60 percent have external access to internal networks, and firms anticipate investing in collaborative technology for software sharing, electronic whiteboards and video conferencing, as well as more flat screens, laptops, handhelds and cell phones.

Work styles: Remote work styles are more common, with nearly ten percent of employees telecommuting — a number projected to double by 2008. Less than five percent participate in work-at-home or hoteling, however, and neither arrangement is expected to expand much. By contrast, employees sharing workspace will double to over ten percent, and those involved in collaborative work will rise from over 20 to over 30 percent.

Office accommodations: Almost everyone in a law firm will lose square footage from 2003 to 2008, including partners (230 to 208), directors and managers (150 to 145), legal assistants (96 to 94) and administrative (75 to 73), with no changes for associates (145) and secretarial (68). More attorneys will exchange personally selected traditional casegoods for systems furniture because furniture in historic styles cannot adapt quickly or easily to changes in function and technology. However, attorneys will keep their private offices, without adding space for war rooms and other group-oriented facilities.

Storage: Attorneys say that filed and loose paper will still contribute to future storage problems, along with computers and other information technology devices. The only objects they foresee storing less are personal items, books, binders and manuals.

Knoll covers the complete spectrum of accommodations for law firm personnel with modern products that are utilitarian, flexible and interchangeable.

Tough decisions ahead
The legal profession is clearly feeling a pressure to change similar to the squeeze felt in many other economic sectors. Lawyers list their top challenges in managing the law office, according to Knoll Workplace Research, as filing/storage/paper management (54 percent), managing availability and flexibility of war rooms/case rooms (36 percent) and establishing effective office standards (32 percent). Their faith in paper, refusal to devote more office space for team work and allegiance to private offices obliges them to find innovative ways to store materials and introduce greater flexibility for multiple missions and users.

Here's how Knoll can help
Knoll covers the complete spectrum of accommodations for law firm personnel with modern products that are utilitarian, flexible and interchangeable. In furniture systems, seating, storage units and tables, Knoll enables law firms to draw permeable borders around activities and equip private offices and shared public spaces for multiple roles.

Consider the power of furniture materials, fit and finish to define the status of law firm activity. Morrison, Reff and Currents are furniture systems that project an upscale image that can be traditional or contemporary, standard or intensive in cabling and engineered for change. Yet they easily work with value-added systems such as Equity and Dividends, the unconventional, cutting-edge, A3; and AutoStrada, a new system embracing four distinct planning models — panel-, storage-, spine- and collaborative tabled-based — so law firms can continually adjust the balance between status and utility as they determine the future of law practice. Knoll understands this balance, and since 1938 has developed a reputation not only for excellence — but also innovation.