By Jeff Blumenthal – Senior Reporter, Philadelphia Business Journal
Marshall Dennehey has renewed its lease at 2000 Market St., giving back about 10% of its space in the process.
Philadelphia’s largest defense litigation law firm said it signed a 10-year lease renewal on 120,462 square feet. The firm moved to 2000 Market from 1845 Walnut St. in 2012, signing a 15-year lease to occupy 133,000 square feet spanning floors 22 through 26. Marshall Dennehey will essentially be giving back half of a floor in its new lease.
Marshall Dennehey CEO G. Mark Thompson said it made sense to consolidate space because it is the second largest cost center for most law firms and technology is impacting modern law offices. He said the firm will cut the 13,000 square feet by restructuring file space and divesting unused or unneeded space, including a kitchen area in the basement of the building that was included in its original lease.
It also plans to redesign workspaces “for enhanced collaboration and efficiency.” Marshall Dennehey cut its paper file space by half in the move to 2000 Market and Thompson said the firm will continue to reduce it, repurposing that space. It will also reconfigure space dedicated to administrative support services, including finance, on the 22nd floor.
Thompson said 2000 Market remains attractive to the firm because the building is in a prime location with easy access to the courts, clients, the central business district and public transportation. He said landlord Nahla Capital, a real estate private equity firm based in New York, has been flexible in working with Marshall Dennehey as it evolves.
The 10% reduction in office space is much less than what most large firms have given back when signing new leases in the post-pandemic world, with many trimming between 40% to 50%. A move to hybrid working has accelerated a trend started two decades ago by advances in technology, which created less need for support staff and paper file space.
Thompson said most Marshall Dennehey lawyers still prefer coming into the office, and the firm does not offer much in the way of hoteling arrangements.
“We're doing that to a very small extent with regard to some of our IT and finance personnel,” Thompson said. “But as far as the attorneys are concerned, we're maintaining individual offices.”
Marshall Dennehey said 129 lawyers, or 25% of its total, and 211 administrative and professional staff work out of the firm’s Philadelphia office. Its next largest offices include Mount Laurel, with 55 attorneys; and King of Prussia, Pittsburgh and Roseland, New Jersey, with approximately 40 attorneys each.
Founded in 1962, Marshall Dennehey has 500 lawyers spread over 19 offices in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Ohio, New York, Connecticut and Florida. It has 220 lawyers working in four local offices, making it the sixth-largest firm operating in the region. The firm traditionally has focused on insurance defense litigation.
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