Seyfarth's Chicago and Atlanta Office Designs Featured in ABA Journal
"Changing Spaces: Law Firms (Slowly) Respond to Egalitarian Trends in Office Design"

Seyfarth Shaw's Chicago and Atlanta office designs were featured in the June 2010 ABA Journal cover story, "Changing Spaces: Law Firms (Slowly) Respond to Egalitarian Trends in Office Design." The article discussed the gradual change in law firm office design as some firms are experimenting with layouts that reflect new organizational structures and new ways of working. The firm's Chicago and Atlanta office designs were among those highlighted in the article since both utilize universal size office space and other innovative design features. As noted in the article, at the new Atlanta office at 1075 Peachtree St. NE, no lawyer’s office is bigger than anyone else’s. Associates and partners alike work in universal 10-by-16-foot spaces. Steven Kennedy, Atlanta's office managing partner commented, “We are very egalitarian, very entrepreneurial."

According to the article, when Seyfarth's Chicago office moved to 131 S. Dearborn St. three years ago, all-glass fronts on lawyers’ offices were more controversial than adopting a universal size. David Rowland, Chicago's office managing partner, explained that the firm wanted to bring natural light into the interior offices as well as to make a statement: “Teamwork is a core element of our firm. You want more openness, both physically and culturally.” Carl Russo, administrator and partner at the firm, added that initially, “each lawyer would look up whenever someone walked by. Now you could walk by and no one notices.”

The article further explained that the open design plan reinforced the firm's emphasis on leveraging efficiencies. Lynn Holliday, who leads the Atlanta office's Real Estate Practice Group, said that a universal layout helps by fostering teamwork. She added, “The traditional office is very isolating. There are lots of doors and all these status symbols. We wanted to get away from that.”  In Chicago, the article pointed out, Dave knew the build-out was a success when one of its harshest critics showed a client the firm’s new conference center. He explained, “The client says this was the most beautiful space they’d ever been to in a lawyer’s office. [The critic] told me this was a brilliant idea. Because the client liked it, he liked it.”