Discover how the right conference room rental can save your firm time, money and headache!
Whether you are a solo attorney or a partner in a large firm, hosting a meeting outside your firm’s main office in a rented conference room can add serious value to your firm’s bottom line.
Since the economic melt-down in 2008, our profession has become increasingly mobile. Subject to bar admissions, the days of using “geographic distance” as an excuse not to retain a client are behind us. There’s a growing trend among forward-thinking attorneys to rely on temporary workspaces for client meetings, depositions, closings and war rooms in lieu of carrying the extra overhead associated with long-term rental commitments.
Executive office centers are the most popular venue for conference room rentals.
Temporary conference rooms or day offices can be rented in hotels and at certain Bar associations (for example, the City Bar in New York rents conference rooms to members). However, executive office centers are the most popular venue for conference room rentals. Law Firm Suites is considered an executive office center, but we specialize in the needs of attorneys.
There are office centers in every major city around the globe, and nearly all of them make their conference rooms available to the general public.
Executive centers rent conference rooms and temporary workspaces in short-term increments (hourly, daily, weekly). One of the major values offered by these space providers is the availability of well-maintained offices and conference rooms on short-term notice. Most office centers can accommodate requests with as little as 24 hours advance notice.
Here are the three reasons why law firms are renting temporary conference room space:
1. Land more business with meeting locations that are convenient for clients.
Sometimes your main office is not the most convenient location for prospective clients. For example, say your main office is located in Brooklyn and you have a hot lead on a 7-figure contingency case with a client who is from Uptown Manhattan. They’ve called you and another lawyer who has a Wall Street office. Having a professional place to meet that is convenient for your prospective clients may mean the difference between landing that lucrative case or not.
You may be a city lawyer who gets cases in the suburbs. Or you may be a suburban lawyer looking to break into the lucrative city legal market. Or you may be a big firm with offices in Midtown, and on trial downtown. With a rented conference room, you can meet in a professional work environment in the most convenient location.
2. Reduce your overhead by eliminating leased office space.
If your firm leases an office space directly from the building’s landlord, consider reducing your space (and thus your overhead) by leveraging space at your local executive center. Your firm may have an occasional need for a large conference room for certain multi-party depositions or closings, or require multiple conference rooms on busy days. However, you may not need the extra space on a regular basis.
Instead, clever law firms are maintaining fewer (and smaller) conference rooms in their own offices, and are leveraging their local executive centers for bigger rooms or additional rooms when they require it.
3. Expand your geographic reach without expanding your overhead.
As an increasing number of clients find attorneys through the internet, it’s feasible for a firm to mine new business from a wide geographic area at very little cost. But, the old adage still remains true: Clients like local lawyers.
Striving to achieve “localness” comes with significant overhead expenses: local telephone numbers, a local office, electric bills, HVAC bills and every other expense that comes with running a law office. If you are just starting to market in a particular area, it may not even be worth it to establish a virtual office presence in the area until you have retained enough clients to just justify the cost.
An easy solution is to find a network of conference rooms located in a wide geographical area that you can make “your own”. The best part? There’s no monthly rent! A conference room can be rented for the day, or even just the hour. It’s like having an and office “on demand”.
