By JODI SOKOLOWSKI
Buffalo Law Journal

When Hodgson Russ LLP's Buffalo attorneys and support staff walk into work the morning of March 17, they'll all be under the same roof for the first time in about 20 years.

The firm's two-year plan to move all Buffalo legal staff into the renovated Guaranty Building at Church and Pearl streets is finally coming to fruition. The move is designed to foster social integration and bonding among firm lawyers as well as assist their professional development.

"Having all the lawyers in one building, particularly when the firm is a bigger one, will facilitate integration and socializing. That's a big piece of our careers," said Hodgson Russ President and CEO Gary Schober.

Sujata Yalamanchili, a partner who serves as chair of the firm's hiring committee, said the move will increase participation between senior partners and associates.

"We've already seen a huge increase in informal training and mentoring," she said. "The summer program is successful, but there are impediments for summer associates to socialize and for others to find each other and do informal networking."

Other goals in bringing all the legal staff together are continuity and efficiency. Schober said two weeks ago, he would have had to head up Main Street to the firm's M&T Plaza offices to connect with a colleague in the estates and tax practice.

Yalamanchili, who practices in the areas of real estate, finance and international/cross-border issues, said getting legal stuff under one roof has already been beneficial.

"You can get by with e-mail and phone calls or trudging through the snow between buildings, but there's nothing like walking down the hall or up the stairs and plunking down in someone's office," she said. "It will make the collaborative nature of our practices much smoother."

A matter of timing

The transition was delayed by the fact that a couple of government agencies with offices in the Guaranty - the IRS, which has moved out, and the Drug Enforcement Agency, which will soon follow - overstayed the terms of their leases.

"It's costing us some extra money (in court costs) that we hadn't planned on, but we're excited about our revised schedule," Schober said.

Over the past several weeks, any attorneys and legal staff housed in the M&T Plaza building have been making their way over to the Guaranty. Moving crews will bring the rest of the litigation crew's records and belongings over to the IRS' vacated space during the weekend of March 15, and the DEA is set to move out of the second and third floors by the end of July.

Until the renovations to the Guaranty's third floor are complete, Chief Operating Officer Paul Hartigan and the firm's human-resources department will be housed in the Brisbane Building. HR is maintaining a satellite office in the Guaranty where five staff members will work on a rotating basis.

Hartigan admitted that the temporary setup can be inconvenient and that he sometimes feels like "a guest" when he visits the Guaranty.

"We have to work around it. It's critical to integrate," he said. "The downsides of growth are, it changes the way you do business and, frankly, you have to work harder. You take it for granted that you can walk next door and resolve problems."
While HR will be temporarily housed in the Brisbane Building, the firm's accounting and information-technology departments will be located there permanently, at least until that lease expires in 2016. The firm's leaders decided it would be better for the firm to have all its lawyers together in one location and administrative staff elsewhere.

"It's obviously not a perfect situation, but we had to pick one or the other, and I think we made the right decision," Schober said.

Although the firm loses efficiency by having some departments off-site, the Brisbane Building is about two city blocks away from the Guaranty headquarters.

"Paul is running over (from the Brisbane now), and this morning I was over there," Schober said during an interview last week. "The good news is, the nicer weather is around the corner, and then by the time the bad weather comes back, hopefully the space will be ready for Paul and the HR people to move in."

Hodgson Russ has seven offices in six cities, including New York City, Albany, Toronto and Boca Raton, Fla.