Florida-based personal injury law firm Kanner & Pintaluga in 2024 established a new office designed to accommodate up to 40 employees in the 46-story San Felipe Plaza in Uptown Houston. Greater Houston is one of three Texas metros in the top 20 by number of law firm transactions. Photo courtesy of Stream Realty Partners
Exclusive analysis by Cresa explores where law firms are leasing and why.
Corporations are used to consulting legal counsel as they formulate location strategy. What about when the law firms themselves are the workspace occupiers? Last year, a search by Cresa, the world’s largest commercial real estate tenant advisory, for law firms with a minimum of 5,000 sq. ft. of office space in the United States and Canada identified nearly 13,000 office locations, totaling over 240 million sq. ft. of office space. Moreover, analysis of Inc. 5000 firms by Site Selection last fall found the most dramatic leap upward by percentage in that elite group comes from the legal sector, which added 36 firms to its segment of the Inc. 5000 (a 43% increase) to reach 120 companies and rank No. 15, just behind real estate. Building on work completed in fall 2025, here we present by special arrangement new enterprise research from Cresa Director and Head of Research Craig Van Pelt on one of the only office-occupying sectors that has expanded activity in the past several years. — Ed.
The traditionally conservative legal sector is playing a significant role in the overall recovery of the office market. Although law firms have historically adhered to established practices, the pandemic has accelerated changes in the workplace and the adoption of new technologies. As a result, hybrid working models have become the new standard in the legal sector.
Since the pandemic, overall office leasing volume has dropped by 15% to 20%, and the average lease size has decreased by about 9%. In contrast, the volume of law firm leasing has generally remained steady, with the average lease size increasing by roughly 5%. Larger office leases (over 20,000 sq. ft.) have become increasingly common for law firms. Between 2017 and 2019, law firms made up 4.1% of total office leasing for these larger leases, but this percentage jumped to 5.9% between 2022 and 2025. This change is significant, considering that the total leasing volume for large leases in the past four years has been approximately 715 million sq. ft.
Each firm is unique; many have utilized the current soft office market to right-size their operations by consolidating offices and reducing their overall footprint. However, there are also signs that select firms are beginning to expand their space requirements. There is no “one size fits all” law firm workplace model.
Real estate overhead constitutes a significant investment for firms, typically ranking as the second largest fixed expense and accounting for 4% to 8% of annual gross revenue. As a result, the design of office workplaces is evolving to better align with business strategies, company culture, talent acquisition and the firm’s competitive positioning.
The legal sector has seen a higher rate of employees returning to the office compared to other industries. According to the Kastle Legal Industry Barometer, the occupancy rate for the legal sector on peak days — meaning the days of the week when employees are most present — is about 75% of pre-pandemic levels. In contrast, other office sectors have maintained occupancy rates of around 60% to 65% on peak days. The practice of law heavily relies on building relationships, and in-person meetings, negotiations and client interactions are essential. In a competitive hiring market, law firms utilize their offices as hubs to cultivate company culture and retain employees.