Sheppard Mullin Chooses West

Sheppard Mullin is moving west. Thankfully, that no longer involves Oregon trails, fording rivers, or buying oxen. (Wagons are still covered... unless you put the top down on your Porsche.)

We got a first look, hardhat tour at the new 2099 Pennsylvania Ave office where Sheppard Mullin will be the anchor tenant. DC co-managing partner Luca Salvi tells us the firm was at 1300 I St for the 11 years since it opened its DC office (its first outside of California). The new space should open for business in mid-August. By that point, we presume Luca's office will look a little more furnished.

Luca and PR director Ralph Richardson look out over Pennsylvania Avenue. In finding the new space (the firm signed a lease last year), they spread out a 10-foot map of DC to pinpoint the best location. Twelve places were seriously considered, including east side construction. Ultimately, moving west was better for commutes from NoVa and Maryland.

As anchor tenant, Sheppard Mullin will have signage outside of the building and exclusive signage inside the lobby. The is one of the reasons they chose the space and is an important part of the firm's growth and branding in DC.

The firm has three floors of the building, in addition to the ground floor and roof. This may not look like much yet, but it'll soon be a separate reception area on the ground floor, which will include its own dedicated elevators. The ground floor also has large conference rooms and a multi-purpose room that opens up for receptions. HITT was the general contractor and SKB did architectural design.

The new office uses standard-size offices for partners (200 sq. ft.) and associates (140 sq. ft). Despite growing to 90 offices (with expansion space to 120), up from 72 at the old office, the floorplate is much more efficient, cutting the square footage from about 64k to 58k.

We snapped this from the rooftop, with views of the Washington Monument, White House, Old Post Office, and the Capitol in the distance. (You can see your house—if you're Barack Obama.) Since Sheppard Mullin's DC office opened, the firm's debuted other offices in the US (NY, Chicago) and abroad (Beijing, London, Seoul, and Shanghai) but says that it's strategically committed to DC and heavily focused on growth here. The office is especially looking to bulk up in corporate M&A, FDA, government contracts, and healthcare.