90% of Law Firms in San Diego Will Adopt a Hybrid Work Strategy

Law firms are the epitome of an office-centric industry, but according to the latest Law Firm Benchmarking survey from JLL for San Diego, attorneys are staying home. Per the survey, 90% of law firms in the San Diego market plan to adopt a hybrid work strategy that will allow employees to split their time between the office and remote work.

Most employees will get to spend the bulk of their time at home. According to the survey results, only 7% of firms will require attorneys to come into the office four-to-five days a week. Even more surprising, 41% of firms said that attorneys won’t be required to come into the office at all.

Office staff is a different story. Most of the firms surveyed said that office administrative staff will be required to come to the office more frequently than attorneys. Only 30% of firms said that office staff won’t be required to make an in-office appearance at all, and 18% of firms said that office staff would be required to come into the office four-to-five days a week.

Despite the number of firms embracing remote work polices, almost none are considering moving to another market. Only 7% of firms said that they would consider moving to a new market, despite allowing employees to work remotely.

When it came to COVID-19 protocols, there was less consensus. On the topic of vaccinations, nearly half (47%) of firms said they were unsure or did not want to state if they would require a vaccination. However, 40% of firms do plan to require employees to vaccinate, while only 13% will not.

Likewise, 30% of respondents were unsure if they would keep COVID-19 protocols in place, like masking, while 70% had a place for the future. However, the report notes that most plans were inconsistent, showing there is a wide variety of response. Most strategies to combat the virus are focused on remote or flexible work policies.

This survey is a divergence from national data, which has shown that law firms are leading the way in returning to the office. Law firms are among the first office-using tenants to reduce or eliminate their WFH strategies, according to a new report from Colliers. While the national occupancy rate currently stands at 25%, nearly 70% of law firms surveyed by the commercial real estate giant report being at least 25% occupied. By the end of 2021, Colliers experts predict that two-thirds of all law firms will be more than 50% occupied.

Similarly, law firms has also led new office leasing activity nationally. Law firms saw the “strongest leasing volume since the onset of the pandemic,” according to a new report from Savills.  The study was of large law firms using more than 20,000 square feet of space each. In total, they leased 2.1 million square feet in major urban markets. It’s the largest number since the pandemic started and a 51% increase from 2021′s Q2.