Choosing the Right Law Office for for Sustainable Growth

As large law firms grapple with the question of bringing attorneys and staff back to the office or adopting hybrid work models, independent lawyers face similar choices. When choosing the right law office setting for you, consider how you want your practice to grow.

Home Office Pros and Cons

For many independent lawyers just starting out, a home office makes sense. You can set up in a spare bedroom, basement corner or even the kitchen table. Here are some of the pros and cons to choosing a work-from-home model for growing your law practice:

Pros: 

  • Cost. You’re already paying the mortgage or rent, so your start-up costs may end at a new laptop and some software investment.
  • Convenience. Working in your pajamas and slippers can be a nice perk.
  • No commute. A two-minute walk downstairs sure beats a 45-minute drive in rush hour.

Cons: 

  • Privacy. Aside from interruptions from family, roommates or pets, you need to protect client files and data.
  • Work-life balance. It’s hard to ignore work when your laptop sits next to your cereal bowl.
  • Isolation and burnout. Your cat is great, but can he serve as a business thought partner or collaborator when you really need one?

News outlets and researchers have begun to study the impact remote work has had on professionals, and burnout shows up as a common side effect. According to HBR:

“While work from home presents some opportunities for a better work-life balance, many workers are experiencing the opposite. People are working longer hours, and lacking the separation of the commute and talks in the hallway between meetings, they struggle with a lack of downtime that is critical to the innovative thinking that propels organizations forward.”

Your home office can become a focused, balanced place to grow your business, but it may not be the best choice for every professional.

Leased Office Prose and Cons

Enter the traditional office lease as option number two. What are the pros and cons of signing such a lease?

Pros:

  • Dedicated space. The space is yours to design and configure how you wish.
  • Privacy. Focused work space and the ability to secure client files and data easily.
  • Professionalism. Greeting clients in a space with your name on the door boosts rapport and your reputation.

Cons:

  • Cost. A private office is by far the most expensive law office option.
  • Lease terms. Many commercial office leases require a term of two or more years, locking you into a space that may not grow at the same speed as your business.
  • Isolation and burnout. A private office does not eliminate the sense of isolation many independent business owners feel. In addition, you might work longer hours to try to justify or offset the cost of the space.

Shared Office Pros and Cons

Fortunately, the modern landscape offers a middle ground option for business owners in growth mode. Coworking spaces and shared office arrangements offer the best of both worlds.

Pros: 

  • Cost. Choosing a shared office goes much easier on the wallet than a long-term private office lease.
  • Flexibility and Scalability. Need a coworking desk for six months and a three-office suite after that? A shared office space grows as you grow.
  • Community. Working alongside others who share a dedication to building successful businesses raises all boats, as they say. Your peers in a coworking space become potential collaborators, business advisors, moral support team and even friends.
  • Professionalism and privacy. From data security to reception services and well-appointed conference rooms, a shared office takes care of the professionalism for you.

Cons:

  • Cost. It’s not free like your home office, but the cost is much lower than a traditional lease.
  • Ego. If having a marquis on the building is important to you, a shared office might never feel impressive enough.
  • Location. A shared office still requires a commute longer than your walk down the hallway. For many lawyers, that commute becomes worth it so they can meet clients in a central business district.

The decision around where and how to work rests with you as a law business owner. It also doesn’t have to require either/or thinking. As society embraces a more flexible approach to work, hybrid models have become the norm.

As this MIT report notes, large and small companies alike are looking to coworking as an attractive compromise:

“Coworking spaces will become even more important and more popular in the post-pandemic world, not just for entrepreneurs and freelancers (the stereotypical users of coworking spaces), but especially for large companies.”

Big companies and small can benefit from a balance of in-office days and work-from-home days, and the flexibility of a shared office space makes that option more feasible for many.

Ready to learn more about our shared office communities for lawyers in Denver and Las Vegas. Reach out to learn more or to schedule a tour.