WASHINGTON, DC-Mark Minich, a 25-year industry veteran in the DCreal estate community who specializes in law-firm representation, has joined CB Richard Ellis from Cushman& Wakefield. Minich tells GlobeSt.com he is bringing his entirenational client base with him, approximate 3 million-square-footglobal portfolio.

Minich’s recent deals include Crowell and Moring’s380,000-square-foot expansion and renewal of its headquarters at1001 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Other clients include Fish &Richardson PC, Willkie Farr & Gallagher, Bingham McCutchen LLP,Boston Properties, Burson-Marsteller, Grant Thornton, NASDAQ andSimon Property Group.

Minich is making the move to CBRE during an interesting time forthe legal real estate community: much like financial firms did adecade ago, law firms have begun to consolidate their non-attorneyoperations, such as human resources and accounting, in one center.The point has been to scale back space and use what is remainingmore efficiently, a trend that was facilitated by the recession. Anideal ratio for firms now, he says, is roughly 600 square feet perattorney. In the hey day, he says, "that ratio could easily be1,000 square feet per attorney."