Following trends for law office design, McGinnis Lochridge incorporated modern elements for its new Austin headquarters — think natural light and collaborative spaces — but also added features related to the pandemic, such as conference rooms with Zoom capability. Lawyers and staff at the midsize Texas firm moved into the space in a totally reconstructed building in the Market District of Austin on Monday — about two years after firm leaders started the process of determining if the firm should stay in its downtown location a few blocks from the Texas Capitol, or move elsewhere. It wasn't just about finding space that would be cost-effective, said managing partner Douglas Dodds, even though "the partners are pleased with the economic terms of the deal." A big incentive for building out modern, efficient offices was making it easier to recruit lawyers, said Cliff Ernst, a partner in Austin who chairs the firm's construction committee. "Recruiting is one of the things driving our design process," he said. "Doug and I were fine with the old space, but we aren't the target." Dodds said he's "always looking" to hire lawyers who are a good fit for the 69-lawyer firm's practices, which are litigation, corporate and transactions, electric energy, oil and gas, wealth preservation and estate planning, labor and employment, and land and water. "In the new space, looking for new lawyers is a top priority for us," he said. "We do fit a very good segment of the market. As a midsize firm, we've got better overhead than the big firms, our metrics are favorable compared with the big firms [and] more rate flexibility." The Austin hiring market is competitive, in part due to the number of out-of-state firms that have opened offices in Austin this year. According to Ernst, the new space and location is a "perfect fit" for the firm. The firm has the top two floors of the revamped South Building located at 1111 W. Sixth St. on the western edge of downtown, close to the Whole Foods headquarters. "We looked at the heart of downtown, looked at staying at 1 American Center, explored suburbs [and] looked at rental rates. ... We are right on the edge of downtown, still very centrally located, with great access to courts and the statehouse, but we are out of the congestion of downtown," he said. The office space features floor-to-ceiling glass windows, standard-sized 10-by-15 square foot offices for all lawyers but more conference space, an open floor plan, a large skylight in the main lobby, easy parking, a larger hospitality area, and a break room that overlooks the downtown skyline. The building also has an outdoor patio, Dodds said. The space is more efficient, Dodds said, at about 38,500 square feet total, down about 10,000 from the former space. The firm needed less space, because of smaller private offices and a significantly smaller library, Ernst said. The space has 53 exterior offices for lawyers — there are currently about 50 lawyers in Austin — but 27 interior offices are also available. That extra space will accommodate the hiring Dodds would like to do. The firm also has offices in Dallas, Houston and Decatur, Texas. One useful feature is an internal staircase between floors, which allows lawyers to collaborate more easily than in the prior building, where Dodds said lawyers had to get on an elevator and use their card keys. He also notes that the new design is "taking maximum advantage of technology" and a number of conference rooms are set up as Zoom hearing rooms. That's something the firm has used through the pandemic, he said, with trial lawyers participating in trials, depositions and hearings via Zoom. Dodds said the firm has not set a definite date to fully reopen following the pandemic, but he said a "fair number" of lawyers are coming in regularly, but some are still working remotely. "We don't have any requirements for lawyers. We have staff on what I call a hybrid schedule, again flexibility being the keyword. At the end of the day, your focus is taking care of your clients, and providing a safe work environment," he said.