WASHINGTON, DC-As it gets its newly-realigned executive bench settled in, Cushman & Wakefield is making plans to step up its focus on law firm tenants. One of the high-level new hires the company has made in recent days is Sherry Cushman, who has joined the firm as an executive managing director to lead the company’s Law Firm Advisory Practice. Prior to joining C&W, Cushman was a senior vice president at CBRE. Now 10 days into her new position, she will report directly to Jim Underhill, CEO of Cushman & Wakefield’s Americas region.

Chief among Cushman’s duties will be to spearhead an initiative to grow the company’s law firm practice. To that end, C&W plans to establish a special career path for brokers to focus exclusively on law firms. It also plans to double the number of brokers that focus on law firms in the DC area to around 12, both via internal promotion and external hires.

These moves are necessary as the law firm real estate industry changes, Cushman tells GlobeSt.com. “The legal brokerage industry has become more of an expertise and brokers need to be specialists now. Ten years ago, it wouldn’t be unusual for a broker to represent an office tenant one day, an association the next and a law firm following that.”

Increasingly, however, law firms are requesting brokers with special knowledge of their issues and space needs, she says. These issues include the obvious downsizing that most law firms are undergoing. They are also using less square footage per attorney and support staff. At the same time, however, law firms’ need for a certain kind of building remains the same.

“Law firms consistently sign the longest leases,” Cushman says. “They tend to take the nicest buildings in the best locations in town. Some are venturing in new areas because of cost savings or a need to push the envelope, though.”