K&L Gates has moved into new Dallas office space at 2828 N. Harwood Street after approximately four decades at Comerica Bank Tower.
The firm, which is among a significant number of law firms leaving downtown for Uptown, is consolidating its Fort Worth office with the relocation. The move comes out of a strategic review of the firm’s global real estate footprint.
“Dallas is a top market for our firm and we want to invest further in the office and our people,” said Stacy Ackermann, who was named K&L Gates’ global managing partner this year. “We are seeing a significant increase in client demand in Texas.”
The new office occupies an entire floor spanning 22,908 square feet. Close to half of K&L Gates’ 60 lawyers in Texas are in Dallas.
“It is a nice evolution [for the Dallas team] to come into new office space and give ourselves a nice refresh,” Dallas managing partner Beth Petronio said. “It reflects our Dallas lawyers – young, entrepreneurial, and energetic.”
Petronio noted the office’s roots go back more than 50 years to the legendary Dallas law firm Hughes & Luce, which merged with K&L Gates in 2008.
Artoush Varshosaz, a newly-appointed member of the K&L Gates Management Committee and a leader of the firm’s global litigation practice, said the firm is in the early months of a “very concerted” growth initiative in Texas. He highlighted middle-market sponsor-side private equity, energy regulatory, and sophisticated real estate finance as key areas they want to grow in.
A CBRE team including Timothy Howe and David Fitzgerald out of Boston and Phil Puckett and Harlan Davis in Dallas brokered the deal for K&L Gates. IA Architects handled the design work.
Varshosaz said the new look reflects the “beautiful aesthetic” across the K&L Gates platform with Dallas touches, like art procured from local artists Carlos Ramirez, Kim Camdus Owen, and Ryan Goolsby.
“There’s better coffee, too,” he said.