After 20 years in one prominent Midtown Atlanta skyscraper, Am Law 200 firm Carlton Fields has downsized its office space and moved less than a block east to a “light and bright” location in another landmark tower in the Big Law-concentrated area.

The Florida-founded firm on Monday opened for business in a 16,000-square-foot space on the ninth floor of Promenade Tower, a 40-story office tower, after 20 years in a space that was around 20,000 square feet in the nearby One Atlantic Center building.

Carlton Fields opened with five lawyers in 2005 in Atlanta—its first location outside Florida. The office now includes 22 lawyers in litigation and such core industries as real estate and construction.

Greg Null, the firm’s Atlanta office managing shareholder, said in an interview that the firm’s new office design encourages both recruitment of new lawyers and retaining existing ones.

As a result, the new space “represents an important step for the strategic growth of Carlton Fields” and the Atlanta office as it actively seeks to add lateral lawyers in the firm’s core areas, he said.

“We’re focused on growth,” Null said. “That hasn’t always been the case.”

In addition, the space features rooms and common areas mostly divided by glass partitions that allow outdoor light to flow throughout the office—creating a bright, airy feel and a work environment that encourages collaboration, Null said.

Attorneys and staff members do not feel isolated from each other compared to law office settings built in previous decades featuring fewer windows and rooms surrounded by drywall.

“Our new location offers a modern space that better suits the needs of our attorneys, staff and clients, fostering a dynamic work environment,” Null said. “The new space aligns with our firm’s collaborative culture and commitment to providing innovative client services.”

It also makes more efficient use of the firm’s space because it no longer includes large areas devoted to storage of files and books containing information now mostly stored digitally, Null said.

“We had several large file rooms filled with paper,” he said, in reference to the firm’s former office.

Carlton Fields’ new office space “offers improved facilities and workspaces” while the 35-year-old building also offers a full-service conference center and access to a fitness center, a release stated.

The office’s design and location also encourages in-office work and aids recruitment because of its airy feel and the building’s close proximity to dozens of restaurants and other amenities, he said. It also includes areas the firm can expand into as it adds more personnel.

The new office is located in the Promenade—a distinctive, reflective glass and stainless steel office tower topped with a ziggurat-styled spire and sporting stainless steel fins that hang over Peachtree and 15th streets in Midtown.

It also houses the Atlanta offices of Am Law 100 and Second Hundred firms Fisher & Phillips, Square Patton Boggs, Bradley Arant Boult Cummings, Cozen O’Connor and Shook Hardy & Bacon.

Wayne H. Shortridge moved from Paul Hastings to open Carlton Fields’ Atlanta office in 2004. It operated in temporary quarters in One Atlantic Center until moving into its former 23,000-square-foot space on the 30th floor of the 49-story structure in January 2005. Other lawyers who joined the office in 2005 moved from Arnall Golden Gregory, Paul Hastings and Turner, Padget, Graham & Laney in Columbia, S.C.