NYC firms with desk sharing? Forum

[Anonymous User]

Any NYC firms now doing desk sharing? Sounds terrible. Curious if any places have gone to this? Seems like from Fishbowl it's a thing in a couple places. Maybe for juniors only?

[Anonymous User]

Confirmed that Latham NY engages in desk sharing (due to a severe lack of office space; they will be buying new office space in 2025, but I think desk sharing will continue).

[Anonymous User]

Any NYC firms now doing desk sharing? Sounds terrible. Curious if any places have gone to this? Seems like from Fishbowl it's a thing in a couple places. Maybe for juniors only?

NYC is the absolute worst. I cannot imagine being a lawyer without my own office. That’s what this post is about right, not literally sharing a desk?

[Anonymous User]

Any NYC firms now doing desk sharing? Sounds terrible. Curious if any places have gone to this? Seems like from Fishbowl it's a thing in a couple places. Maybe for juniors only?

NYC is the absolute worst. I cannot imagine being a lawyer without my own office. That’s what this post is about right, not literally sharing a desk?

No a couple firms supposedly are like “hoteling” now where you aren’t assigned a permanent desk. Like how Big4 accounting is. I think the “norm” is for very junior lawyers to share an office

[Anonymous User]

Any NYC firms now doing desk sharing? Sounds terrible. Curious if any places have gone to this? Seems like from Fishbowl it's a thing in a couple places. Maybe for juniors only?

NYC is the absolute worst. I cannot imagine being a lawyer without my own office. That’s what this post is about right, not literally sharing a desk?

No a couple firms supposedly are like “hoteling” now where you aren’t assigned a permanent desk. Like how Big4 accounting is. I think the “norm” is for very junior lawyers to share an office

Wow, y’all need to get out of that dump of a city. Tons of market parking options outside of NYC now. Truly don’t understand why any litigator would want to be in NYC. I guess for corporate it’s tougher to give it up.

[Anonymous User]

Yeah I’m corporate. Plus I do love NYC

[Anonymous User]

Any NYC firms now doing desk sharing? Sounds terrible. Curious if any places have gone to this? Seems like from Fishbowl it's a thing in a couple places. Maybe for juniors only?

NYC is the absolute worst. I cannot imagine being a lawyer without my own office. That’s what this post is about right, not literally sharing a desk?

No a couple firms supposedly are like “hoteling” now where you aren’t assigned a permanent desk. Like how Big4 accounting is. I think the “norm” is for very junior lawyers to share an office

Wow, y’all need to get out of that dump of a city. Tons of market parking options outside of NYC now. Truly don’t understand why any litigator would want to be in NYC. I guess for corporate it’s tougher to give it up.

Most people like sharing offices. Hoteling, on the other hand, is terrible because it’s mentally unsettling. Every week is uncertainty about where you’ll sit. Cube farms or bull pens can be ok with the right mix of people but it’s too loud.

[Anonymous User]

Any NYC firms now doing desk sharing? Sounds terrible. Curious if any places have gone to this? Seems like from Fishbowl it's a thing in a couple places. Maybe for juniors only?

NYC is the absolute worst. I cannot imagine being a lawyer without my own office. That’s what this post is about right, not literally sharing a desk?

No a couple firms supposedly are like “hoteling” now where you aren’t assigned a permanent desk. Like how Big4 accounting is. I think the “norm” is for very junior lawyers to share an office

Wow, y’all need to get out of that dump of a city. Tons of market parking options outside of NYC now. Truly don’t understand why any litigator would want to be in NYC. I guess for corporate it’s tougher to give it up.

Most people like sharing offices. Hoteling, on the other hand, is terrible because it’s mentally unsettling. Every week is uncertainty about where you’ll sit. Cube farms or bull pens can be ok with the right mix of people but it’s too loud.

In my experience coming out of private sector that did hoteling, most people greatly preferred hoteling than sharing an office. And hoteling makes a lot of sense when you work from home 2-3x a week. Go to most young peoples offices and they dont really have it decorated or with lots of paper around. Most stuff is all on the computer. Working out of starbucks or a hotel room or a home office or whatever is all interchangeable, most young attorneys have a pretty weak mental connection with an actual, physical office space that they need to think of as "their office". I think its more the older attorneys who put in their custom desk and rug that scream about it.

[Anonymous User]

I feel like if you are wfh the majority of the time, hot desking wouldn’t be too terrible because as you say, everything’s on my computer. I’d still want to have an office, not a cubicle or be in a bull pen, though. Hate feeling surveilled.

[Anonymous User]

Any NYC firms now doing desk sharing? Sounds terrible. Curious if any places have gone to this? Seems like from Fishbowl it's a thing in a couple places. Maybe for juniors only?

NYC is the absolute worst. I cannot imagine being a lawyer without my own office. That’s what this post is about right, not literally sharing a desk?

No a couple firms supposedly are like “hoteling” now where you aren’t assigned a permanent desk. Like how Big4 accounting is. I think the “norm” is for very junior lawyers to share an office

Wow, y’all need to get out of that dump of a city. Tons of market parking options outside of NYC now. Truly don’t understand why any litigator would want to be in NYC. I guess for corporate it’s tougher to give it up.

Most people like sharing offices. Hoteling, on the other hand, is terrible because it’s mentally unsettling. Every week is uncertainty about where you’ll sit. Cube farms or bull pens can be ok with the right mix of people but it’s too loud.

In my experience coming out of private sector that did hoteling, most people greatly preferred hoteling than sharing an office. And hoteling makes a lot of sense when you work from home 2-3x a week. Go to most young peoples offices and they dont really have it decorated or with lots of paper around. Most stuff is all on the computer. Working out of starbucks or a hotel room or a home office or whatever is all interchangeable, most young attorneys have a pretty weak mental connection with an actual, physical office space that they need to think of as "their office". I think its more the older attorneys who put in their custom desk and rug that scream about it.

I guess hoteling could be good if you take over an area with your friends (assuming they are on the ball with scheduling the desks) and stay away from the dreaded partners. But for me, given the lack of routine in the job and the 4 days a week in the office, I’d probably lateral if my firm switched to hoteling.

[jotarokujo]

Any NYC firms now doing desk sharing? Sounds terrible. Curious if any places have gone to this? Seems like from Fishbowl it's a thing in a couple places. Maybe for juniors only?

NYC is the absolute worst. I cannot imagine being a lawyer without my own office. That’s what this post is about right, not literally sharing a desk?

No a couple firms supposedly are like “hoteling” now where you aren’t assigned a permanent desk. Like how Big4 accounting is. I think the “norm” is for very junior lawyers to share an office

Wow, y’all need to get out of that dump of a city. Tons of market parking options outside of NYC now. Truly don’t understand why any litigator would want to be in NYC. I guess for corporate it’s tougher to give it up.

Most people like sharing offices. Hoteling, on the other hand, is terrible because it’s mentally unsettling. Every week is uncertainty about where you’ll sit. Cube farms or bull pens can be ok with the right mix of people but it’s too loud.

In my experience coming out of private sector that did hoteling, most people greatly preferred hoteling than sharing an office. And hoteling makes a lot of sense when you work from home 2-3x a week. Go to most young peoples offices and they dont really have it decorated or with lots of paper around. Most stuff is all on the computer. Working out of starbucks or a hotel room or a home office or whatever is all interchangeable, most young attorneys have a pretty weak mental connection with an actual, physical office space that they need to think of as "their office". I think its more the older attorneys who put in their custom desk and rug that scream about it.

sure but the downside with sharing a permanent office is also not very big, and imo is typically smaller than the downside with hoteling. Sure, young folks don't put a ton of decorations, but even the most anti-connection/personal life at firm people will have photos of their family in their office or something.

[Anonymous User]

Any NYC firms now doing desk sharing? Sounds terrible. Curious if any places have gone to this? Seems like from Fishbowl it's a thing in a couple places. Maybe for juniors only?

NYC is the absolute worst. I cannot imagine being a lawyer without my own office. That’s what this post is about right, not literally sharing a desk?

No a couple firms supposedly are like “hoteling” now where you aren’t assigned a permanent desk. Like how Big4 accounting is. I think the “norm” is for very junior lawyers to share an office

Wow, y’all need to get out of that dump of a city. Tons of market parking options outside of NYC now. Truly don’t understand why any litigator would want to be in NYC. I guess for corporate it’s tougher to give it up.

Most people like sharing offices. Hoteling, on the other hand, is terrible because it’s mentally unsettling. Every week is uncertainty about where you’ll sit. Cube farms or bull pens can be ok with the right mix of people but it’s too loud.

In my experience coming out of private sector that did hoteling, most people greatly preferred hoteling than sharing an office. And hoteling makes a lot of sense when you work from home 2-3x a week. Go to most young peoples offices and they dont really have it decorated or with lots of paper around. Most stuff is all on the computer. Working out of starbucks or a hotel room or a home office or whatever is all interchangeable, most young attorneys have a pretty weak mental connection with an actual, physical office space that they need to think of as "their office". I think its more the older attorneys who put in their custom desk and rug that scream about it.

sure but the downside with sharing a permanent office is also not very big, and imo is typically smaller than the downside with hoteling. Sure, young folks don't put a ton of decorations, but even the most anti-connection/personal life at firm people will have photos of their family in their office or something.

Sharing an office is a joke. There is no way to justify it. I would way rather hotel and at least get my own office when I’m working.

[jotarokujo]

NYC is the absolute worst. I cannot imagine being a lawyer without my own office. That’s what this post is about right, not literally sharing a desk?

No a couple firms supposedly are like “hoteling” now where you aren’t assigned a permanent desk. Like how Big4 accounting is. I think the “norm” is for very junior lawyers to share an office

Wow, y’all need to get out of that dump of a city. Tons of market parking options outside of NYC now. Truly don’t understand why any litigator would want to be in NYC. I guess for corporate it’s tougher to give it up.

Most people like sharing offices. Hoteling, on the other hand, is terrible because it’s mentally unsettling. Every week is uncertainty about where you’ll sit. Cube farms or bull pens can be ok with the right mix of people but it’s too loud.

In my experience coming out of private sector that did hoteling, most people greatly preferred hoteling than sharing an office. And hoteling makes a lot of sense when you work from home 2-3x a week. Go to most young peoples offices and they dont really have it decorated or with lots of paper around. Most stuff is all on the computer. Working out of starbucks or a hotel room or a home office or whatever is all interchangeable, most young attorneys have a pretty weak mental connection with an actual, physical office space that they need to think of as "their office". I think its more the older attorneys who put in their custom desk and rug that scream about it.

sure but the downside with sharing a permanent office is also not very big, and imo is typically smaller than the downside with hoteling. Sure, young folks don't put a ton of decorations, but even the most anti-connection/personal life at firm people will have photos of their family in their office or something.

Sharing an office is a joke. There is no way to justify it. I would way rather hotel and at least get my own office when I’m working.

sharing an office is a joke but hoteling is even more of a joke is what I'm trying to get at. The only humane thing is of course having your own office. I'm saying if firms must choose one of these space saving measures (which if they do, they are incompetent), sharing is better. Hoteling means moving all of your books, documents, tech stuff, etc, not knowing where you sit, not building any community on your floor etc. With sharing you may at least build a connection with your office mate. If your officemate is particularly bad then that is worse than hoteling but on average it's not

[Sad248]

No a couple firms supposedly are like “hoteling” now where you aren’t assigned a permanent desk. Like how Big4 accounting is. I think the “norm” is for very junior lawyers to share an office

Wow, y’all need to get out of that dump of a city. Tons of market parking options outside of NYC now. Truly don’t understand why any litigator would want to be in NYC. I guess for corporate it’s tougher to give it up.

Most people like sharing offices. Hoteling, on the other hand, is terrible because it’s mentally unsettling. Every week is uncertainty about where you’ll sit. Cube farms or bull pens can be ok with the right mix of people but it’s too loud.

In my experience coming out of private sector that did hoteling, most people greatly preferred hoteling than sharing an office. And hoteling makes a lot of sense when you work from home 2-3x a week. Go to most young peoples offices and they dont really have it decorated or with lots of paper around. Most stuff is all on the computer. Working out of starbucks or a hotel room or a home office or whatever is all interchangeable, most young attorneys have a pretty weak mental connection with an actual, physical office space that they need to think of as "their office". I think its more the older attorneys who put in their custom desk and rug that scream about it.

sure but the downside with sharing a permanent office is also not very big, and imo is typically smaller than the downside with hoteling. Sure, young folks don't put a ton of decorations, but even the most anti-connection/personal life at firm people will have photos of their family in their office or something.

Sharing an office is a joke. There is no way to justify it. I would way rather hotel and at least get my own office when I’m working.

sharing an office is a joke but hoteling is even more of a joke is what I'm trying to get at. The only humane thing is of course having your own office. I'm saying if firms must choose one of these space saving measures (which if they do, they are incompetent), sharing is better. Hoteling means moving all of your books, documents, tech stuff, etc, not knowing where you sit, not building any community on your floor etc. With sharing you may at least build a connection with your office mate. If your officemate is particularly bad then that is worse than hoteling but on average it's not

I think everybody works for different reasons. I do it for the paycheck, I am not there to make a connection with my office mate. For me, I'd rather hotel than share an office. I think the only exception would be if it is with a junior, as for them it could be helpful to have someone on speeddial.

[Anonymous User]

At DPW it is pretty common for associates—even midlevel ones—to have an office mate for the window offices. Often times those who don't have a current office mate will end up sharing an office with a summer associate when they come. Honestly at first I found it annoying, but I liked my office mate and I could ask her questions about the firm software because I didn't pay attention when they went over everything.

[Anonymous User]

Wow, y’all need to get out of that dump of a city. Tons of market parking options outside of NYC now. Truly don’t understand why any litigator would want to be in NYC. I guess for corporate it’s tougher to give it up.

Most people like sharing offices. Hoteling, on the other hand, is terrible because it’s mentally unsettling. Every week is uncertainty about where you’ll sit. Cube farms or bull pens can be ok with the right mix of people but it’s too loud.

In my experience coming out of private sector that did hoteling, most people greatly preferred hoteling than sharing an office. And hoteling makes a lot of sense when you work from home 2-3x a week. Go to most young peoples offices and they dont really have it decorated or with lots of paper around. Most stuff is all on the computer. Working out of starbucks or a hotel room or a home office or whatever is all interchangeable, most young attorneys have a pretty weak mental connection with an actual, physical office space that they need to think of as "their office". I think its more the older attorneys who put in their custom desk and rug that scream about it.

sure but the downside with sharing a permanent office is also not very big, and imo is typically smaller than the downside with hoteling. Sure, young folks don't put a ton of decorations, but even the most anti-connection/personal life at firm people will have photos of their family in their office or something.

Sharing an office is a joke. There is no way to justify it. I would way rather hotel and at least get my own office when I’m working.

sharing an office is a joke but hoteling is even more of a joke is what I'm trying to get at. The only humane thing is of course having your own office. I'm saying if firms must choose one of these space saving measures (which if they do, they are incompetent), sharing is better. Hoteling means moving all of your books, documents, tech stuff, etc, not knowing where you sit, not building any community on your floor etc. With sharing you may at least build a connection with your office mate. If your officemate is particularly bad then that is worse than hoteling but on average it's not

I think everybody works for different reasons. I do it for the paycheck, I am not there to make a connection with my office mate. For me, I'd rather hotel than share an office. I think the only exception would be if it is with a junior, as for them it could be helpful to have someone on speeddial.

Maybe I'm just a fucking weirdo but its kinda nice to share an office as a junior? We get to commiserate, build off of eachother's connections to classmates/other associates and ask eachother dumb fucking questions. Way easier to off handedly ask someone how to do something basic than turn it into a whole zoom message/zoom call situation.

[jotarokujo]

I think everybody works for different reasons. I do it for the paycheck, I am not there to make a connection with my office mate. For me, I'd rather hotel than share an office. I think the only exception would be if it is with a junior, as for them it could be helpful to have someone on speeddial.

Maybe I'm just a fucking weirdo but its kinda nice to share an office as a junior? We get to commiserate, build off of eachother's connections to classmates/other associates and ask eachother dumb fucking questions. Way easier to off handedly ask someone how to do something basic than turn it into a whole zoom message/zoom call situation.

yeah I'm with you, but who you're responding to is right, it's individual and subjective. That said i feel like it's a pretty objective downside to move your plants and office decorations all the time, though I suppose people who prefer hoteling don't care about decorating their office

[The Lsat Airbender]

I think everybody works for different reasons. I do it for the paycheck, I am not there to make a connection with my office mate. For me, I'd rather hotel than share an office. I think the only exception would be if it is with a junior, as for them it could be helpful to have someone on speeddial.

Maybe I'm just a fucking weirdo but its kinda nice to share an office as a junior? We get to commiserate, build off of eachother's connections to classmates/other associates and ask eachother dumb fucking questions. Way easier to off handedly ask someone how to do something basic than turn it into a whole zoom message/zoom call situation.

yeah I'm with you, but who you're responding to is right, it's individual and subjective. That said i feel like it's a pretty objective downside to move your plants and office decorations all the time, though I suppose people who prefer hoteling don't care about decorating their office

I suspect a decent chunk of pro-hoteling people rather like having an excuse not to worry about decorating/customizing their office

[Anonymous User]

At DPW it is pretty common for associates—even midlevel ones—to have an office mate for the window offices. Often times those who don't have a current office mate will end up sharing an office with a summer associate when they come. Honestly at first I found it annoying, but I liked my office mate and I could ask her questions about the firm software because I didn't pay attention when they went over everything.

I would never have worked for a firm that did not give me my own office. I can’t believe so many people on here are ok with that. DPW sounds horrendous. Leading the charge back into the office, but also not acquiring proper office space for its own employees? Give me a break.