Confidential Law Firm, Philadelphia, PA
Not unlike so many professional services enterprises, the legal profession has undergone profound changes in recent years. Law firms have new needs for their workplaces, and, in turn, their workplaces have new opportunities to shape the way lawyers work and practice.
A prestigious global firm with multiple offices around the world faced a lease renewal for one of their large locations. It presented the opportunity to refresh their approach to their expansive workplace there, a significant square footage across multiple floors, and accommodating over 1,200 staff. They were supported in the project by HYL, an architectural firm specializing in corporate workplaces, and they selected Gunlocke furniture from Allsteel to anchor their new setting.
“It was a great opportunity to take a fresh look at our workplace strategy,” observed the firm’s Director of Capital Projects. That fresh look included making the new workplace reflect the friendly, personable culture of their staff in that location and to implement a more standardized approach to furnishing the space, an approach that subsequently might serve other locations around the globe.
This project also provided the opportunity to use the workplace as a change-management catalyst. “Collaboration may not always come naturally to lawyers,” said their project director, “but we used the new space to enhance collaboration.”
That new space featured configurations of the versatile Gunlocke Silea furniture in the private offices, enabling the inclusion of additional and larger alternative settings to facilitate group work and collaboration. The firm created a standard around the Gunlocke product portfolio which included L-shaped sit-to-stand desks, an application that has become very popular among their users. These Gunlocke desking products provided the ideal blend of enhanced functionality while maintaining a high standard of aesthetic impact.
Throughout the space, white boards replaced the conventional application of tackable surfaces, again proving to be a popular feature among the users and an additional tool for promoting collaboration.
The transition from having the attorneys self-select their furnishings to a more standards-based model encountered some initial hesitancy, but excitement quickly grew as the new configurations and features were introduced. An early display of the Gunlocke products in mock-ups affirmed the quality, image, and expanded functionality that would be central to this firm’s offices.
The practice of law will continue to evolve, and new ways to create high-performance workplaces for attorneys and their staff will emerge. The firm profiled here has made a significant contribution to that evolution, and their people are experiencing the benefits of that emerging, more collaborative workplace.
PRODUCT SOLUTIONS
Seating:
Acuity™
Workspaces:
Silea™
Stride®
Altitude®
Further™
Gallery Panels