NEW YORK CITY-Eco-friendliness may have come to the legal sectora bit later than other industries, yet high-profile examples suchas Nixon Peabody’s appointment of a chief sustainability officerand Proskauer Rose’s pursuit of LEED Gold certification for its406,000-square-foot space at 11 Times Square demonstrate that lawfirms are catching up. CB Richard Ellis says in a report issuedTuesday that 49 of the Am Law 100 firms—as ranked by theAmerican Lawyer, sister organization to GlobeSt.com—have astated environmental program, and 11 are pursuing or have achievedLEED certification in at least one office location.

The ways in which top law firms come to sustainability vary, asdo their reasons for going green. Extending a firm’s brand identityis one element, “but there are numerous benefits that they’retapping into,” Sally Wilson, CBRE’s global director ofenvironmental strategy, tells GlobeSt.com.

One factor is increasing requests from law firms’ clients todisclose “what sustainability means to them and how they’releveraging that in their business,” says Wilson. “Secondly,especially among larger law firms, they’re finding financialbenefits from investing in more energy-efficient space. On thebranding side, clearly it’s good for recruiting and retention,especially among younger attorneys.” Law firms also see it as ameans for boosting employee productivity and morale, according toCBRE’s report.