Law Firms Didn’t Sublease Office Space During the Pandemic

The office sublease market swelled dramatically during the pandemic in major cities, but one industry was a bright spot: law firms. Unlike tech companies, financial services companies and energy companies—which drove the glut of sublease space in major cities—law firms only contributed 5% to 7% of office space the sublease market, according to research from Savills.

Law firms based in San Francisco contributed the least office space to the market during the COVID outbreak, with about 1% of office space in the sublease market coming from them. Chicago, New York and Los Angeles law firms contributed only 5% and 6%, respectively, to the market through the end of last year. Washington DC was the only outlier. At the end of 2020, DC-based office space from law firms accounted for 31% of the space on the sublease market. However, in the first half of 2020, law firms took back nearly half of the space, bringing the total law firm-contributed sublease space in the market to 16%.