LSAG Legal Briefs - Vol 2

as first year associates. They’ll move to private offices after their first year, but for the time being they appreciate the soft transition that The Neighborhood provides in bridging the gap between the collegiality of law school and the more individual nature of a legal career. It’s All Part of a Vision for a Healthier Legal Workforce In August 2018, Lindberg, et. al published an article in The BMJ on the effects of workstation type on physical activity and stress. The results were striking. Workers in open plans exhibited significantly more physical activity and less perceived stress than workers in cubicles and private offices. Surprisingly, the benefits extended to outside of the office too: “Higher physical activity at the office was in turn related to lower physiological stress outside the office as measured by heart rate variability.” It is easy to fall into the habit of hunkering down in our offices all day, but this, combined with the legal industry’s chronically high rates of stress among attorneys in the first 10 years of practice, can be a hazard. Pioneering law firms have a real chance to set themselves apart on this front. Whereas The Law Society notes that “the work lends itself perfectly to flexible working and yet most firms will only make a nod to flexibility,” Fried Frank has chosen to make a courageous investment in its own talent. Contrast this with the running narrative we see regarding open plan offices in the media. The Register says that “Open plan offices flop – you talk less, IM more, if forced to flee to a cubicle: Scratch the surface and most of us are misanthropic recluses.” Back in 2013,

breaking them up into whichever workstations and offices were free, they instead created an associate “Neighborhood.” That’s right—a space designed with early career associates specifically in mind, alongside a plethora of other workplace offerings poised to bolster the firm’s ability to attract and retain talent. The experiment went so well that the space is now a permanent fixture for both summer and first year associates. Twenty individual sit-to-stand workstations form the core of the space. Each is equipped with noise-cancelling headphones, curved monitors, and Bluetooth headsets for individual focus work. And when the time comes for collaboration, the associates can switch to a new work mode seamlessly. Rolling pedestal cabinets double as cushioned impromptu guest seating for group work. The collegial design extends beyond The Neighborhood into the features of the entire office. Glass-front offices increase transparency and access to natural light. The enhanced café has monitors in its comfy booths which can display connected laptop screens for collaborative work or cable television if a team wants to unwind. Speaking of unwinding, full- body massage chairs and an Arcade Legends machine in the café leave no doubt that Fried Frank is serious about curating an enjoyable experience for every single member of its staff. The results have been exciting: the pilot group of formerly disparate summer associates became a friendly, trusting team that, upon receiving offers to return to the firm, were excited to find out that they would be staying in The Neighborhood

Photo Credit: Eric Laignel

10 | Legal Sector Advisory Group | ADVISING FOR EXCELLENCE