Smaller firms, solo attorneys get creative with office space

As more and more court hearings are handled remotely and attorneys and clients spend more time on the phone or a Zoom meeting than face to face, lawyers are becoming increasingly less reliant on the need to work every day in a physical office.

The American Bar Association’s 2023 TechReport survey found that respondents who described their practice as a virtual law practice (11% overall) were asked what they consider to be the defining characteristics of their virtual law practice.

A majority of respondents chose “ability to travel and work from anywhere” (76%), “ability to work outside of normal business hours” (67%), “better work-life balance” (64%), “minimal in-person contact with clients” (60%) and “lack of traditional physical office” (53%).

There are some Indiana solo practitioners and small firms that, while not being totally virtual, have taken significant steps to reduce the amount of time spent in a traditional office space.

And some established law firms with extra space to rent are getting creative to meet the basic needs of their attorney tenants.

Kyle Christie is a partner with Christie Farrell Lee & Bell, which he described as a medium-sized firm of approximately 30 employees.

The firm is located on North Delaware Street.

In 2001, Christie Farrell Lee & Bell purchased the historic Bals-Wocher House, built in 1869, and converted it into an office.

Christie said there are five small/solo firms renting out space in the downtown office.

He said three of the firms have full-time physical offices at the site, while two use the Christie building primarily as a mailing address for clients.

The idea of renting out space to other firms or attorneys renting an office primarily for its mailing address has definitely picked up post-pandemic, Christie said.

“It seems to me to be way more common now,” Christie said.

The Christie office is close to capacity, but still has one vacant office space available for rent in its Livery area.

As for Christie’s firm, he said that for the most part, everyone is in the office on a given day. Employees see the benefit of face-to-face interaction, Christie said.

But Christie acknowledged the firm, like a lot of other law firms, has become more flexible post-pandemic.

Clients and attorneys have become more comfortable with virtual interactions, he said.

The biggest change Christie has seen with the courts is the sheer amount of virtual hearings for areas like guardianships and estate cases.

He said it opens up more time for attorneys that might have been previously spent traveling to and from court.

Christina Gomez, an Indianapolis criminal defense solo practitioner, has a rent agreement with Christie where she rents for use of the office’s mailing address, allowing clients to send payments and drop off documents at the North Delaware Street location.

Gomez is also able to use the firm’s conference room for consultations with clients.

“But I mainly work from home,” Gomez said.

She’s been practicing law for three years, serving as a public defender her first year before starting a private solo practice.

About 90% of her interactions with clients are done over the phone, Gomez said.

By working primarily from home, it allows her to work and also have more interaction with her family.

Gomez said she chose the Christie firm’s office site because of its downtown location.

She acknowledged she would consider working totally remotely if she could.

“I feel like the profession has been moving away from the traditional brick-and-mortar,” Gomez said.

During the pandemic, Gomez worked for a while as a paralegal for another attorney. She said she stayed home and worked remotely for three months.

Gomez said most clients prefer phone calls.

She said she views her arrangement as one that saves her and her clients time, in terms of eliminating the travel time involved in driving downtown for face-to-face meetings.

It’s a roughly 30-minute drive from her house to the Delaware Street office, Gomez noted.

It also saves her money on rent.

“It’s a more economical option than if you were to rent out a full-on office,” Gomez said.

More attorneys work remotely

Jeff Cardella, an Indianapolis criminal defense and expungement attorney with an office on Massachusetts Avenue, uses his office infrequently.

He said he owns two small businesses, his law firm and a separate real estate business, with both offices located in the same building.

“Basically, neither office gets used,” Cardella said.

Cardella said if he has a deposition he needs to do, he might use the office, but he’s not using the space like he was five years ago, something he’s seen with some other attorneys.

A lot of attorneys that are with smaller or solo firms are not doing much in terms of space upgrades, Cardella said.

Even if their business has grown, they haven’t added office space, the attorney said.

A solo or small firm may also not want the challenges involved with moving, changing their address on Google maps and updating their website to reflect a new location, Cardella said.

“The cost of switching may not be worth the hassle,” Cardella said.

He said this attitude is a sharp contrast from when he began his career as an attorney.

“For the most part, people starting from scratch are taking a very minimalist approach.” Cardella said.

Cardella said he didn’t believe the cost of rent was so much the issue as just the ability to do so many things remotely as an attorney.

That makes traditional office space less of priority.

Larger Indy firms

Cardella said even larger law firms can save a lot of money if they downsize their office space.

Andrew Urban, a Indianapolis-based senior vice president and real estate expert with Colliers, said there have been at least a couple of examples recently of larger firms in Marion County moving into smaller office spaces.

In January 2023, Frost Brown Todd moved from its old office, a 56,400-square-foot space at 201 N. Illinois St., to a new 37,762 square foot space in Salesforce Tower.

That new space was vacated by another law firm, Ogletree Deakins Nash Smoak & Stewart P.C., which moved to a smaller downtown space — a 27,170-square-foot office at 300 N. Meridian St.

Urban said those two moves represented a 34% and 25% reduction in space by the respective firms.

He said Colliers has not seen a lot of larger Indianapolis firms subleasing space in their buildings to smaller firms.

That trend has been more prevalent in Chicago and New York City, Urban said.

“It could happen in Indianapolis at some point,” Urban said.

Urban said it’s a delicate balance for multi-practice, larger law firms that may not want to sublease space to competitors.

Colliers released a National Law Firm Report earlier this month, which it shared with Indiana Lawyer.

Among its findings nationally were that despite a growing trend towards shorter leases within the general office market, law firms have a clear consensus towards commitments of 10 years or more, with 86% of the firms tracked in the report willing to take such leases.

More than 55% of law firms are reducing office space, which reflects the broader office environment changes.

Urban said the report showed more than 80% of law firms offer some form of remote work, with one to two days out of the office being the most common practice (32%).

He said that, compared to corporate America and larger Indiana companies like Lilly or Cummins, law firms do more of their work in-office, even with cultural changes that have allowed for more hybrid work schedules.

“Culturally, they understand the importance of having lawyers in the office,” Urban said.•