With new Harbor East office, DLA Piper is embracing workplace flexibility

Flexible work options are built into the DNA of the new Harbor East office that houses DLA Piper, one of Maryland’s largest law firms and the latest to move to the upscale waterfront district.

The firm’s new home, at 650 S. Exeter St., includes “hotel” offices where employees can scan a QR code and instantly turn the room into their personal space. The conference room is outfitted with technology that makes it possible to handle a trial remotely.

“We knew our culture, the way we ran our business, really allowed for this type of flexibility,” said Frank Ryan, DLA Piper’s U.S. chair and global co-CEO. “So what we decided to do was lean into that.”

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, the firm was reassessing its space needs. The health emergency, which pushed many companies to full-time remote work in an effort to protect employees from coronavirus, also showed that DLA Piper could work effectively with less space, Ryan said.

When the company’s lease ended at its former Baltimore office, on a grassy campus in Mount Washington, the search for a new location led to Harbor East.

The lively community there has brought a new energy to the office, said Brett Ingerman, the managing partner of the firm’s Baltimore office.

“It’s actually brought more people into the office,” Ingerman said. “People who were not coming into the office at Mount Washington are now coming in because the space is great, it allows them to collaborate more.”

The firm’s employees can now easily schedule a business lunch that’s only a short walk from the office. They can bump into important players in Baltimore’s legal and business communities on the bustling streets near the Inner Harbor.

The new space also allowed DLA Piper to build in some of the flexible work options available to employees, such as the hotel offices.

With 90 offices in 40 countries, DLA Piper was already adept at working remotely even before the pandemic. But now, the flexibility offered there has also become a tool for recruitment and retention.

“We have associates and lateral partners who are calling us because their firms implemented a mandatory five-day-a-week ‘be in the office’ policy, and they don’t want that,” Ingerman said. “It attracts talent, the flexibility that’s offered by the space and by the policy of the firm.”

Having those options is also more inclusive, allowing employees to stay home with a sick relative or manage child care.

“In our society, still, a lot of day care obligations fall on women, especially young women partners,” Ryan said. “This allows for them to have great careers, have a bit more flexibility in their lives. So we’ve really decided to stick with it.”

The new office also features collaboration rooms instead of the traditional corner offices. Its walls are lined with artwork by Gerson B. Stearns, the office administrator.

With the move to Harbor East, DLA Piper is joining a trend of law firms moving — or returning — to downtown Baltimore and the surrounding area.

The firm, then called Piper & Marbury before two mergers brought together DLA Piper in 2005, left downtown more than 20 years ago in what was widely seen as a blow to the city’s business district.

With June’s move to Harbor East, DLA Piper joined firms like Gordon Feinblatt LLC and Saul Ewing LLP in making the change.

Ingerman said joining Harbor East’s retail and office community made sense.

“A lot of our lawyers are engaged in the community, whether it be on boards or pro bono work here in the city,” he said. “The ability to go outside and see clients, and see judges, and see colleagues on the street during lunchtime, I think is a huge plus for both our lawyers and for the firm.”