CONTACT US
Share: Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on LinkedIn I recommend visiting cushmanwakefield.com to read:%0A%0A {0} %0A%0A {1}
San Francisco Bright Insight Report San Francisco Bright Insight Report

Legal Leasing Continues as San Francisco Law Firms Take Advantage of Soft Market Fundamentals

Matt Hart • 9/21/2023
In San Francisco, one of the United States major legal markets, law firm tenants are capitalizing on a tenant-friendly market characterized by soft market fundamentals, increased concessions and the availability of prime locations in vibrant areas of the city.

What three trends are legal occupiers capitalizing on in San Francisco?

  1. San Francisco’s exposure to tech tenants and remote work has left surplus space on the market, causing soft market fundamentals and the availability of prime locations in vibrant areas.
  2. Legal occupiers are aggressively downsizing their office space and looking for more efficient floor plates. Space compressions for relocating legal tenants average approximately 23% in the San Francisco market and about 12% nationally.
  3. The market is aggressively tenant-friendly, and landlords have increased concession offerings. It’s not uncommon for landlords to offer up to $20 per square foot (psf) in tenant improvement (TI) credit and 1.25 months of free rent, per year of lease term.

The office market in San Francisco has recovered more slowly in comparison to other major markets, much to the benefit of legal occupiers in the market. Since 2020, the trend of San Francisco’s increasing vacancy rates has continued with the second quarter of 2023 vacancy at 27.1% overall, a far cry from the 5.4% pre-pandemic rate in the first quarter of 2020. A nearly identical story rings true for Class A central business district (CBD) vacancy rates, with first quarter 2020 rates at 4.9% and second quarter 2023 rates still very high at 24.6%. For legal tenants who typically prefer Class A space in a market’s CBD, this is good news as the market is soft, and options—depending upon a firm’s space requirements—are plentiful. However, Tier 1 properties (top 15 buildings in the market) remain extremely tight at 5.8% vacancy and Tier 2 properties (top 16-45 buildings in the market) are at 16.9% vacancy in the second quarter of 2023.

BRIGHT INSIGHT

Bright Insight 

The 10th edition of Cushman & Wakefield’s Bright Insight report covers past, present, and future thoughts, nuances, and practices specific to law firms.

GET FULL REPORT

Legal tenants have taken full advantage of the current situation in San Francisco by seizing opportunities to relocate their offices and secure prime space in safe, vibrant areas of the city, often downsizing their footprint in the process. The 25,000-square-foot (sf) floor plates that were previously desirable are being overlooked in favor of smaller sub-20,000-sf plates that better serve legal occupiers. This is partially due to a rise in smaller and/or interior offices, digital law libraries and file rooms. Who can blame them? Landlords have made it compelling for law firms to relocate in the market and recognize the corresponding expense with relocating. TI credits are higher than they’ve been in the past, and free rent offerings have seen an uptick as well. It’s not uncommon to receive an offer with greater than a year of free rent and over $200 psf in TI on a 10-year lease, and legal occupiers are taking landlords up on those deals. 


While vibrant locations and efficiency gains from smaller floor plates can be monetarily advantageous, they don’t paint the full motivational picture behind relocations. It’s often easier to secure a new lease and build it out than it is to renovate while in place. The shift in design is also a factor; firms are consistently looking to create welcoming and collaborative spaces that help foster a communal environment and unite their attorneys and staff. In addition, legal tenants in San Francisco are less concerned with traditional in-building amenities and instead are looking at geography, parking, floor plate efficiency and the surrounding area. They‘re seeking good restaurants and bars, neighborhood vibrancy, secure parking, and views of the water and bridges.

What else is driving legal tenant downsizing?

Aside from floor plate efficiency, location and compelling landlords, downsizing for legal occupiers is also being driven by universal individual office sizes, shifting attorney-to-staff ratios, the logistics involved in renovating in place vs. building out a new space, cost savings and, as mentioned before, digital filing and law libraries.

Firms previously sought out larger floor plates because they had more interior space, but digital law libraries, digital filing rooms and attorney-to-staff ratios have lessened the need for interior space. The optimal floor plate for San Francisco law firms is nearing 500 sf per attorney on average, and most 25,000-sf floor plates are not conducive to lower square-feet-per-attorney ratios. They are even less conducive when universal office size strategies are implemented. Even though attorney offices are getting smaller and firms are adopting hoteling, attorneys are gaining a great deal in the office space.

Collaboration and community-centered office spaces that are equally fit to focus on work and entertain clients are becoming the norm. Major law firms in San Francisco are enthusiastic about these transformations.

 

How has leasing activity fared in the past and present? What’s in store for the future?

Past leasing activity in San Francisco has historically been driven by lease expirations, with annual totals fluctuating as existing firms renew leases and new market entrants secure minimal space—if they decide to enter at all. The graph included below illustrates this point further—2017’s total leased sf doubled in 2018 and 2019, reaching a high before falling off in 2020 and 2021 and then slightly recovering in 2022.


At 326,000 sf, legal leasing activity in San Francisco during the first half of 2023 has been strong but driven by expirations or termination rights. Gibson Dunn, Wilkie Farr & Gallagher, Shartsis Friese, Squire Patton Boggs, and Gunderson Dettmer have transacted so far this year taking more than 20,000 sf each. Four of the five are relocating or establishing a new office within the San Francisco market to take advantage of increased TI, free rent and the lower hard costs of building out office space.

The year is expected to finish strong with expiration-driven tenants who expect to lease a total of 400,000 sf before the end of the year. If deals are delayed into 2024, it may be the most active year for legal tenants that San Francisco has seen since 2019. Longer-term demand exists as well, and several well-known firms, many of which appear on the Am Law 200, are currently in the market and are expected to transact within the next 2-5 years. Prepare for more activity to come in the law firm sphere in San Francisco.

Want more legal services trends & Insights?
Click here to receive more information on legal services trends and insights.
Subscribe

Related Insights

Legal Leasing
Research • Legal

Legal Sector Leasing Insights

Access the latest legal sector occupancy trends and national leasing activity.
John McWilliams • 9/26/2024
Bright Insight 2024 Web Card
Research • Professional Services

Bright Insight

Cushman & Wakefield’s Legal Sector Advisory Group has published its proprietary legal sector benchmark survey findings – Bright Insight.  
David Smith • 6/24/2024
office lobby
Research • Workplace

Office Fit Out Cost Guide

Explore our Office Fit Out Cost Guide 2024 to budget and plan your workspace transformation in the U.S. effectively. Start optimizing your office today.
3/21/2024

Ready to talk?

Our professionals are ready to provide further details on this and many other topics.

With your permission we and our partners would like to use cookies in order to access and record information and process personal data, such as unique identifiers and standard information sent by a device to ensure our website performs as expected, to develop and improve our products, and for advertising and insight purposes.

Alternatively click on More Options and select your preferences before providing or refusing consent. Some processing of your personal data may not require your consent, but you have a right to object to such processing.

You can change your preferences at any time by returning to this site or clicking on  Cookies

More Options
Agree and Close
These cookies ensure that our website performs as expected,for example website traffic load is balanced across our servers to prevent our website from crashing during particularly high usage.
These cookies allow our website to remember choices you make (such as your user name, language or the region you are in) and provide enhanced features. These cookies do not gather any information about you that could be used for advertising or remember where you have been on the internet.
These cookies allow us to work with our marketing partners to understand which ads or links you have clicked on before arriving on our website or to help us make our advertising more relevant to you.
Agree All
Reject All
SAVE SETTINGS