Hogan Lovells is overhauling its Washington DC office space in a bid to encourage collaborative working in a renovation project set to take two years.
The 15-year lease on the former Hogan & Hartson office came to an end this year, with the decision taken to renovate the space instead of looking for new premises.
The refit will see Hogan Lovells’ Washington partners move to glass offices, instead of being behind closed doors, with the rest of the office moving to open plan.
All offices will be the same size, with CEO Steve Immelt set to be in the same size office as the firm’s senior associates.
“It’s about being less hierarchal and we’ve moved to universally-sized offices,” Immelt said.
“It was a soul-destroying environment but it’s now bright and clear. There’s lots of glass and open areas.”
There will also be “huddle rooms” throughout the office, as well as “hives” serving as central places in which to meet, Immelt said.
The refit is set to take two years to complete, with groups moving into the new spaces on a staggered basis.
Open plan layouts have become more of feature at UK law firms in recent years, though US firm take-up has been comparatively slow.
Allen & Overy is currently trialling open-plan working within some of its departments in its City premises. CMS and Pinsent Masons have both adopted open-plan fit-outs, while Olswang was also set to move to full open plan in London by March 2017 prior to its merger with CMS Cameron McKenna and Nabarro.
Meanwhile in Washington DC, a source said: “Washington has just started to think about open plan layouts,” with Nixon Peabody’s US lawyers moving into a new open plan office at the start of this year.
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