Legal Sector Leasing Insights

9/26/2024

The Evolving Landscape of Legal Sector Office Leasing

Legal sector office leasing remained robust through the first half of the year as legal tenants’ appetite for space totaled 8.0 msf. The strength in demand can be partially attributed to the fury of major market¹ leasing activity that took place in the second quarter of 2024, which was the third-best quarter in the past five years and the highest second quarter on record. The share of legal leasing occurring in major markets reached 59% in the first half of 2024, which is closing in on the pre-pandemic average of 63% and represents a significant improvement over the near 50-50 split seen in 2022.

^{[1] Major legal markets are designated by Cushman & Wakefield as: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas/Fort Worth, D.C. Metro, Houston, Los Angeles, New York City, Philadelphia and San Francisco.}

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Legal leasing activity remains robust in the first half of 2024, as the 10 major legal markets started the year off strong. Total leasing through the first half of the year reached 8.0 million square feet (msf), with 59% of leasing activity concentrated in major markets.

Los Angeles, San Francisco and Dallas-Fort Worth all saw a significant year-over-year (YOY) rise in the amount of space leased by law firms. Legal leasing accounted for more than 10% of overall office leasing activity in each of these three markets.

A growing share of legal tenants are electing to renew leases without making a change in the size of their office space, while a smaller share of firms is electing to downsize. This has caused the total net change in legal sector leasing to rise to negative 6.9%, up from negative 7.2% in 2023 and negative 13.3% in 2022.

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