Munsch Hardt Kopf & Harr office in Houston. Courtesy photo

Needing more space for a growing Houston office, Munsch Hardt Kopf & Harr moved to a larger space in Pennzoil Place that incorporates modern office design and is aimed to ease lawyers' return to the office. "Getting people back into the office and getting them happy and healthy and excited was a big impetus in the short term for sure," said John Cornwell, managing shareholder of the office. At 40,833 square feet, the new space is nearly twice the size of the firm's former Houston office, and it will accommodate 80 lawyers. The firm currently has about 50 lawyers in Houston. The office features same-size lawyer offices, an internal stairwell between two floors, technology upgrades including Zoom rooms, a lounge for collaborative work, glass doors and walls to spread natural light, soundproof workspaces, standing desks in all offices, and flexible conference spaces. It also has a bar in the lounge for social events and an indoor putting green will soon be installed. The firm moved into the office on March 25. Phil Appenzeller, chief executive officer of Munsch Hardt, said the space was designed with the goal of getting everyone back in the office. Attorneys have been working largely in the office for many months, and all non-attorneys are back in the office, he said. "We designed it with the intention to get everybody back," he said, noting that the office includes a considerable amount of community areas and triple the number of conference rooms of the old space. Two of those conference rooms are named after founders Rick Kopf, a shareholder in Dallas, and Joe Hardt, who left the firm nearly two decades ago for non-lawyer opportunities. Also, the break room and lounge have been dubbed the Munsch Cantina, named after Russell Munsch, who died in an airplane crash in 2017, and the putting green is Russ's Putting Green, because Munsch was an avid golfer. The bar in the cantina is Harr Bar, for founder Steven Harr, who is the firm's general counsel. The firm has nearly 160 attorneys in Houston, Dallas and Austin.