Cutting Costs: Get Real About Your Real Estate Needs

If your firm is seeking ways to cut costs, take a look around the office. Next to salaries, real estate typically is the largest expense item on a law firm's income statement, making it a critical target for cost reduction efforts.

Tackle Inefficiencies

Many firms spend more than they should on real estate because they allocate space inefficiently. They maintain large individual offices and multiple meeting rooms even as technology and changing work habits make such spaces unnecessary. Worse, some firms allow hundreds of square feet to sit vacant following attrition or downsizing, just in case the space is needed in the future.

If your firm is guilty of such practices, it is time to take a hard look at your office space and determine what you are really need and what you could do without. For example: