An interior design trend is taking place in legal offices worldwide – law firms are redefining their space for both lawyers and their clients. Lawyers don’t want to be the daggy kids on the block anymore – no more dusty, stuff legal offices, thank you. We’re jazzing it up and bringing sexy back to the legal profession, one marble foyer and gold Tom Dixon pendant at a time.
In Part 2 of our 3 Part ‘designer’ law firm series, we look at 3 more of the world’s coolest legal offices:
SYDNEY
Hired to transform global law firm, Herbert Freehill Smith’s, Sydney office from closed corporate to open cool, Sydney architecture firm, BVN Donovan Hill, performed a complete overhaul of its decor and design.
The stylish, contemporary firm headquarters is spread across 13 floors of the 161 Castlereagh Street tower in Sydney’s CBD and includes a demountable frame and wall systems and chic office pods and meeting room areas with over 350 lineal metres of LED strip lights and over 100 decorative LED pendant lights. Dazzling!
A sustainable, flexible and open plan environment was a marked departure from the traditional legal office space favoured by firms – lawyers around the edge, admin in the middle.
“Up until this point, most of the legal environments had the traditional thing of offices around the edge of perimeter and then around the edge of the core and then maybe the legal secretary in the corridors. This [project] was about exploring the idea of moving completely away from that”, says Ninotschka Titchosky, a BVN Principal.
With the aim of allowing clients to see the building as a working space and view the workplace activity during visits, the combination of enclosed offices and open-plan environments means that practice groups can now move between floors and be more collaborative.
“We started to look at clusters for the different teams, almost like the idea of cul de sacs, where you can have a series of lawyers working around a collaborative space,” said BVN Principal, Bill Dowzer.
The result? Functional, accessible and elegant. Yes.
STOCKHOLM
Situated in the city centre, in the former headquarters of Swedish clothing giant, H &M, Swedish law firm, Lindahl, is a cut above the rest.
Completed in 2010, Andreas Martin-Löf Arkitekter were commissioned to carry out the design for a full interior refurbishment of the premises, and the sleek office now boasts bespoke furniture and lighting, a new library and stylish entrance foyer spaces. Trust the Swedes to create a law firm as cool as this.
TORONTO
Davies, Ward, Phillips & Vineberg LLP
When law firm, Davies, Ward, Phillips & Vineberg LLP, relocated its Toronto headquarters to the RBC Centre, it sought out the design expertise of SOM to create a sophisticated, contemporary law firm office.
Shortlisted in the 2014 World Interiors News Awards, the interior design experts used cellular offices and earthy materials such as wood and exposed concrete to enhance the open loft-like spaces, achieving LEED CI Gold Certification as a result, of its sustainability. Think eco-friendly materials and fixtures, air quality control and daylight maximisation.
The plush conference centre features movable walls that provide flexibility for staff and meetings and the interconnecting staircase and staff lounge was designed to promote more interaction and collaboration among the employees.
So not only do we love the Canadians because they’re super friendly and their accents remind us (me!) of Degrassi High, they have seriously good taste too. Tick.
So that’s my next 3 legal offices to swoon over! Stay tuned for the final 3 in our 3 part ‘Designer Law’ series.
