Life’s not always rosy in the law, but at least you get a desk to call your own. That’s according to commercial property consultancy CBRE, which says law firms are holding out against trends like hot-desking.

In accounting and management consulting, apparently, firms are expecting to cut the number of desks available with the aim of ending up with one desk for every 1.5-1.75 people by 2020.

By contrast, most law firms are still set on providing assigned seats and one desk per person.

While those working in accounting and management consulting firms often work remotely, either at home or in clients’ offices, ‘lawyers tend to require more quiet space in which to concentrate’, CBRE says in a report called Professional London.

And hot-desking aside, many top-tier firms are still unconvinced by the benefit of open-plan offices, with the majority opting ‘to remain cellular’. Notable exceptions are Pinsent Masons, Fieldfisher and CMS Cameron McKenna.

A ‘reluctance to break with tradition’ was cited as one of the main reasons for the resistance, with firms instead planning to use their space more efficiently by increasing densities. So, if your office looks smaller after the weekend, it probably is.

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