What Legal Professionals Told Us About the Future of the Law Firm Workplace
For decades, the law firm office operated with predictable certainty. Attorneys and staff kept regular hours in assigned offices, making workplace planning straightforward. That model is now a relic.
A recent Korbyt pulse survey of IT and Facilities professionals from large enterprise law firms reveals a fundamental shift: the office’s purpose has evolved. Hybrid schedules are now the standard, collaboration is the main reason for coming in, and technology expectations often exceed current capabilities. With the rise of AI-enabled workplace management, law firms are entering a new operational era.
This article breaks down our key survey findings and what they mean for leaders in workplace planning, technology, and real estate.
Hybrid Work Is Now the Default Model
The clearest signal from the survey is this: 67% of respondents work hybrid schedules. This isn’t a transitional phase. Hybrid work has become the primary operating model across large enterprise law firms.
That finding aligns with wider legal industry benchmarks. According to CBRE’s 2024 Law Firm Benchmarking Survey, only 11% of firms do not support hybrid work—confirming that the legal sector has broadly transitioned away from the five-day, in-office model.
This shift is creating workplaces with variable occupancy. On any given day, the number of attorneys, staff, and visitors in the office can shift significantly. Traditional office designs—built around fixed desks, assigned offices, and predictable attendance—aren’t equipped to handle this kind of variability. Firms that haven’t adapted their space planning and technology infrastructure to support flexible occupancy are likely dealing with inefficiencies they may not yet have fully quantified.
The Office Has a New Job Description
When employees do come in, why are they making the trip? The survey results are telling:
- 67% cite collaboration with colleagues
- 56% cite firm culture and team connection
- 44% cite policy requirements
Of the top three selections, policy mandates are the least compelling driver. Collaboration and culture lead by a significant margin, and that shift has real implications for how offices should be designed and managed. Individual, heads-down work increasingly happens remotely. The office is becoming the place where teams meet, relationships are built, and mentorship happens.
This aligns with broader workplace research from Gensler, which consistently finds that collaboration and social connection rank as the top reasons employees choose to work in the office across industries.
For law firms, this means the traditional layout of private offices lining the perimeter of a floor may be less relevant than it once was. What employees actually need when they come in is space to work together—conference rooms, collaboration zones, flexible meeting areas—not rows of individual workstations. The design of the office needs to reflect the reasons employees are showing up.
Workplace Technology Isn’t Keeping Pace
Even as hybrid work has matured into a stable operating model, many firms are still running on workplace technology that was built for a different era. The survey surfaces a telling gap: 44% of respondents identified significant technology needs, pointing specifically to:
- Meeting room booking systems
- Visitor management
- Automated workplace workflows
These are not niche concerns; they are foundational to the daily operations of a hybrid office. Manual or disconnected room booking systems create friction, leaving conference rooms empty while teams struggle to find space, and administrative staff spend valuable time on logistics that should be automated. Visiting clients are left without a streamlined check-in process.
The issue is magnified in hybrid environments where demand for shared spaces is unpredictable. Without an efficient management system, even an adequate amount of meeting space can seem chronically unavailable.
For law firm IT and Facilities teams, this highlights a clear priority. Meeting room booking, visitor management, and workflow automation are not optional upgrades—they are essential infrastructure for a functional hybrid model.
Mobile Access and Office Visibility Are Becoming Expectations
Closely connected to the technology gap is another finding: 44% of respondents want mobile booking tools and better visibility into who is in the office and what workspace is available.
This makes practical sense. When employees are working on hybrid schedules, deciding whether to come into the office isn’t always obvious. Is the colleague they need to meet actually going to be in? Is there a hot desk nearby? Is the conference room they need available? And finally, is it worth making the commute?
Without answers to these questions, employees either show up and find the office doesn’t serve their needs that day, or they default to working remotely even when collaboration would be more valuable. Neither outcome is good for firms trying to build a culture of intentional in-person work.
Mobile-first workplace tools—apps that let employees check workspace availability, book rooms, and see which colleagues are in the office before they arrive—are shifting from a premium feature to a baseline expectation. For firms competing to attract and retain top talent, this is part of the broader workplace experience equation.
AI and Smarter Space Utilization Are on the Horizon
Looking ahead, the survey points to two emerging priorities shaping the next generation of law firm offices:
- 67% of respondents expect AI-enabled workplace management
- 44% anticipate smarter space utilization technologies
This is significant for firms thinking about their longer-term real estate and technology strategy. Law firm real estate sits among the most expensive in professional services. Every square foot carries a cost, regardless of the work model; space that isn’t being used efficiently represents real financial waste.
AI-enabled workplace management could change the math. Predictive room scheduling, data-driven occupancy insights, and real-time space optimization tools can help firms make more informed decisions about how their offices are configured, when they’re used, and how much space they actually need. The firms that begin building toward this now will be better positioned to right-size their real estate and see measurable returns from their physical workplace investments.
What These Findings Mean for Law Firm Leaders
The survey paints a coherent picture of where legal workplaces stand and where they need to go. For IT, Facilities, and Operations professionals, several priorities emerge clearly:
1. Invest in workplace management technology
Room booking, visitor management, and workflow automation are no longer nice-to-haves. They’re the operational backbone of a functional hybrid office. Firms running on disconnected or manual systems are creating unnecessary friction for attorneys and staff.
2. Design spaces that reflect why employees come in
If collaboration is the primary driver of in-office attendance, office design should reinforce that. More flexible meeting rooms, more collaboration zones, and less reliance on individual assigned spaces.
3. Prioritize mobile workplace tools
Employees expect to be able to interact with their workplace from their phones, before they even walk in the door. Mobile booking and real-time visibility tools reduce uncertainty and make in-office attendance feel more intentional.
4. Start building toward AI and data-driven space planning
Firms that are already collecting occupancy data and exploring AI-assisted scheduling tools will be better prepared to optimize their real estate footprint as these technologies mature.
What’s Next for the Legal Workplace
The legal workplace isn’t in crisis, but it is in transition. The firms that are navigating this transition most effectively aren’t the ones resisting change or reverting to pre-pandemic models. They’re the ones treating the office as a strategic asset: designing it around collaboration, equipping it with the right technology, and using data to make smarter decisions about how space is used.
The findings from this survey offer a practical starting point. Hybrid work is here to stay. The office has a new purpose. And the technology required to support both is well within reach for firms ready to prioritize it.
If your firm is evaluating workplace management solutions—whether for room booking, visitor management, or space optimization—explore how Korbyt can help close the gap between where your workplace is today and where it needs to go.
Methodology
This article is based on an anonymous pulse survey of IT and Facilities professionals at Korbyt law firm customers, primarily from large enterprise law firms. Results highlight directional insights rather than statistically representative industry data. Where noted, findings are supplemented by external benchmarks, including CBRE’s 2024 Law Firm Benchmarking Survey and Gensler workplace research.
