Law firm lines up new offices in central London

[Published Nov 2011 and updated July 2023] The law firm Farrer & Co has agreed a deal on a new area of office space in central London with the owner of the relevant property AXA Real Estate.

A newly remodelled and refurbished site at Lincoln’s Inn Fields in the WC2 area of the city will provide a new and improved base for Farrer & Co staff who have been operating out of a separate site nearby site.

The firm has agreed to occupy the entire 3^rd, 5^th and 7^th floors and parts of the ground floor and the basement at 20 Lincoln’s Inn Fields, all of which amounts to 21,500 sq ft of central London offices.

A ten-year leasing commitment from Farrer & Co was welcomed by the building’s owner and by the commercial real estate advisory group Farebrother, which helped broker the deal.

“The acquisition of these high-quality refurbished offices is an exciting next step in the firm’s continuing development, allowing for both future growth and enhanced client meeting and conferencing facilities in a setting that meets our client’s expectations,” said Ben Bennett, a partner and chief operating officer at Farrer & Co.

Farebrother’s head of office leasing, sales and development Julian Hind suggested that landlords need to make sure their office space offerings are top quality if they want to attract high-calibre tenants on a long-term basis.

“We are pleased to have brought the building up to a new level of quality and to welcome one of Lincoln’s Inn Fields’ longest occupiers to space that will meet all of its requirements,” said AXA Real Estate’s senior fund manager James Owen.

London’s office space markets are among the most expensive in the world, particularly those in the West End, but London was recently named the best place in the world for doing business by the property group Cushman & Wakefield.

Editor’s notes: As of July 2023, Farrer & Co. listed its London office address as 66 Lincoln’s Inn Fields on its corporate website.

The firm had purchased the southern half of 66 Lincoln’s Inn Fields in 1790 from the son of Attorney General James Wallace after it was restored by Sir Christopher Wren.

Clients of the partnership have included the Duke of Wellington, Charles Dickens, the Royal Family and the British Olympic Association (BOA).

As of July 2023, London’s West End was named the 3rd most expensive place in the world to rent office space behind Hong Kong’s Central District, which was the most expensive and New York’s Midtown Manhattan district in 2nd place.