Workspaces Should Be a Reflection of An Organization’s Culture and Brand

From Discolsures, Summer 2014 issue – newsletter of the Maryland Chapter of The Association of Legal Administrators, Inc.

Change is constant. And in the ever- evolving world of the legal workplace, the office environment has seen its fair share. Everything from reduction in square foot per attorney; near elimination of large internal law libraries; to office designs that have a clean modern aesthetic and smaller Associate offices.

Creating the right office environment through the architectural and interior design process is met with key decisions:

•   Is the building selection cost and image appropriate?
•   Is the interior planning efficient and suitable for the work styles and settings of your firm’s area of expertise and internal culture? For instance, litigation focused firms are not the same as firms who specialize in Corporate Business Law or firms that have different practice groups within the same office.
• Does the design of the interior communicate the right impression of your firm?

The legal office space is often a firm’s largest communication tool-yet a holistic and integrated brand environment receives little attention. In fact, nowhere is the culture of a company more apparent than in the office design. Not only does a firm’s interior space make an impression on clients, it makes an impression on recruiting and retaining employees as well. Most importantly, it has a significant impact on the productivity and problem solving of employees every day.

Strategic and prestigious firms such as Eversheds and Paul Hastings LLP understand the inherent nature of the strength in communication and brand in a thoughtfully designed space. Not only their brand strategies, but their office spaces have received a lot of attention for their consistency in planning, design and integrated brand approach of the office environment. For the next generation of lawyers who will populate their firm, these spaces encourage communication, mentorship and reinforce the firms forward thinking approach to business.

All legal office design should begin as both business and design driven discussions about its brand and its culture. The importance of understanding business and culture cannot be emphasized enough when looking for new space, renegotiating existing space and certainly cannot be designed and planned without taking these very important conversations into consideration.

Initially, spatial solutions must be agnostic and validated by a business plan, a brand strategy and both internal and external cultural touch points which support the overarching message the firm is projecting. The design should be strategic and anticipate the future success and the changing workplace.

Some firms make the mistake of thinking about real estate selection first without a strategy in place that touches business, design, brand and culture. If these things are not considered in tandem with building selection, design or an aesthetic refresh, the firm may fight with the space for years to come. Better to spend time up front with a design firm creating a strategic program brief that will support the firm’s culture, its values and represents the heart of your brand. Only then can you arrive at a place that incites the success and loyalty desired.