US firm Paul Hastings has become the first large firm in the States to make its lawyers work in an open plan office.

In what the Wall Street Journal calls an "unprecedented" move, Paul Hastings is kitting out its new office in Manhattan with open plan areas for its first and second year associates instead of offices. The junior lawyers will be separated into groups of 12, which the firm calls a 'pod', and put behind glass at either end of the office, in what the firm has called 'end zones'.

    Partners are required to punt bundles of work into the end zone or spiral them through the door.

Although its architect says that the "pioneering" design is the norm at London firms, his design has provoked alarm amongst the WSJ's readers. They commented that "work is not a subway train", dismissed the open plan project as a "fad" and argued that it will reduce productivity: "Try doing legal research or drafting a brief while people ten feet away are discussing their vacation". But Barry Brooks, chair of Paul Hastings' New York office, defended the move. saying, "I really do believe first- and second-years will benefit from true collaboration - they feed off each other". Only slightly less carnivorously, he added, "I don’t feel bad about it".

Paul Hastings failed to confirm whether it is going to move associates in its London office into 'try zones', possibly because it's still mad that RollOnFriday wrote how one of its partners was a massive liar.
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Comments

Anonymous 04 September 15 10:47

Open plan is a disaster for productivity - the people who do the real work will never be able to concentrate and leave - you'll be left with the chatty wastrel types who don't concentrate and spend their time leaving comments on RollonFriday...