© 2012 The Texas Lawbook.
By Natalie Posgate
Staff Writer for The Texas Lawbook
The lawyers in Winstead’s Dallas office have packed up their bags and moved – to another part of town, that is.
The Dallas-based firm has relocated its headquarters to the hip Uptown area on North Harwood Street – approximately a mile away from Winstead’s old home at Renaissance Tower in the Historic District, where the firm was located for 25 years.
According to Winstead CEO and Chairman Kevin Sullivan, the firm decided to move locations when it decided to evaluate alternative office options instead of automatically renewing its lease with Renaissance Tower when it was about to expire. In doing so, Winstead found its new uptown office building the most appealing because it created an updated workspace for a good financial deal.
Winstead has eight of the 10 floors in its new building, which used to be the headquarters of Centex Corporation. Sullivan said the new office space was completely gutted and renovated.
“I’m certain that this environment will be a big and positive contribution for us to hire additional attorneys and non-attorney staff,” he said.
The move resulted in a downsize in space; it relocated more than 300 attorneys and non-attorney staff from 200,000 square feet of office to 130,000, but the change goes unnoticed.
“Its smaller in square feet but it feels bigger,” Sullivan said.
A key component of what made the move feasible and the new office feel bigger was creating a new electronic client file system and upgrading the firm’s library services. By doing so, Winstead was able to reduce its library from 250 shelves to 39 shelves.
“Our library at Renaissance Tower was half of a floor, and the new office’s library is a very small portion of one floor,” Sullivan said. “Over those 25 years [in Renaissance Tower] we had accumulated tons of files. Those were not areas we were using for attorneys or staff – it was rooms of paper files. We had a great run there and it’s a terrific building but the space was vintage 1987, where this space is 2012.”
The reduced paper files and smaller library space in the new office allows more wide open spaces for Winstead’s attorneys, such as open break areas, lounge and seating areas, and a lounge on the top floor where attorneys can entertain clients or enjoy their lunch.
The new office’s address is at 500 Winstead Building, 2728 N. Harwood St., Dallas, TX 75201.
© 2012 The Texas Lawbook. Content of The Texas Lawbook is controlled and protected by specific licensing agreements with our subscribers and under federal copyright laws. Any distribution of this content without the consent of The Texas Lawbook is prohibited.