Workspace Provider Pacific Workplaces Announces How Small Legal Firms are Changing The Way They Run Their Business
October 21, 2016 – Pacific Workplaces, a leading provider of Shared Office Space, is not a Law Firm, yet it may host the largest community of attorneys and small legal firms in Northern California. The ever-increasing number of solo attorneys and small law firms that took an office membership at one of the nine Pacific Workplaces locations in the Bay Area has recently reached 512 this year. This is more than the 425 Bay Area attorneys on the payroll of Wilson Sonsini, the 342 attorneys with Fenwick & West, or the 322 attorneys of Morrison & Foerster, which The San Francisco Business Times ranked as the three largest law firms based on the number of attorneys in the Bay Area in 2015. Pacific Workplaces also host a large number of attorneys in three centers in the Sacramento area, Reno, Bakersfield, and Carlsbad.
Similar to Software-as-a-Service, Pacific Workplaces offers a concept they coined Workplace-as-a-Service ™, which aims to provide a low overhead workplace solution on a subscription-based and pay-per-use basis. Members benefit from a shared office infrastructure environment and a curated business community that provides them with a support system and helpful networking opportunities.
This model has proven to be a great fit, particularly for solo attorneys working to build their practice. If it were a law firm, Pacific Workplaces would rank first in Northern California. This does not come as a surprise to Keith Warner, Managing Partner for Pacific Workplaces, who said, “The number of lawyer-preneurs that establish their own practice – many right out of law school – seems to be on the rise. We have made the support of solo attorneys and their specific needs a key focus of attention.”
John Latini, a solo real estate attorney at Pacific Workplaces’ downtown Sacramento location agrees: “I have made many great personal and professional connections working in a shared environment. This type of officing solution provides me an economical infrastructure platform to operate my practice. Being part of an office community has also opened the door to new relationships. At times, I was able to incorporate the specialties of other attorneys on cases and litigation giving me a greater breadth of service in my practice”.
Some of the services specifically appealing to attorneys include access to conference rooms and day offices to meet with clients within a professional setting, live phone answering with call screening and transferring to wherever the user may be, and an on-premise staff experienced with depositions and other time-sensitive tasks specific to attorneys. These services are all available at a fraction of the cost that would be necessary to support a small law firm within a traditional space. Some providers also offer an online legal library subscription through one of the top legal research providers in the country at a discount. Most importantly, it is the informal community of solo attorneys, who bump into each other in the lounge or at thematic events, who help each other with tips and referrals, and who provide the basis for business and emotional support, all of which makes a shared office environment especially attractive.
About Pacific Workplaces
Pacific Workplaces (PAC) offers a wide range of part-time and full-time furnished office space including virtual offices, private offices, and mini-suites in a shared infrastructure environment. Members have access to conference rooms, VoIP telephony, unified messaging, answering services, IT support, admin support, online legal library, and preferential access to our CloudTouchdown ™ network of day offices and meeting spaces with over 500 locations worldwide, under a pay-per-use hosted model PAC refers to as Workplace-as-a-Service™. PAC partners with landlords to develop and operate business centers and coworking places. The PAC model responds to trends toward a more distributed workforce, increased flexibility, outsourcing of non-core activities, teleworking, sustainability, and a growing demand from professional firms and start-ups. All PAC centers are operated by PBC Management LLC.