Law Society to move to Atria One in Edinburgh

The Law Society of Scotland, the professional body of Scottish solicitors, confirmed its plans to move to new Edinburgh offices at its annual general meeting last night, Thursday, 28 May.

The move to Atria One on Morrison Street involves the complete sale of the Law Society’s current buildings on Drumsheugh Gardens.  The new office premises will offer more modern and environmentally-friendly surroundings for staff and visitors.

Lorna Jack, Chief Executive of the Law Society of Scotland, said: “Our office move will help us to be relevant and effective in supporting our members, stakeholders and the public in the years ahead.

“After 47 years, the Law Society offices at Drumsheugh Gardens are increasingly unfit for purpose and expensive to maintain. That is why we have been reviewing our long term office location over the last year. Following that review, it is clear that moving to a new office represents the best decision.

“The legal market is changing and changing fast.  Just as Scottish solicitors are changing the way they work, so too must their professional body.  The new offices in Atria will provide better facilities for members who rely on our services and the hundreds of people who volunteer their time in delivering our regulatory and representative work.”

Atria One, the City of Edinburgh Council’s office development, is already home to tenants such as PwC, Brewin Dolphin and Green Investment Bank.  It is one of the most sustainable and energy efficient properties in Edinburgh.

Councillor Frank Ross, convener of the Economy Committee, said:  “We are extremely excited to welcome the Law Society to Atria Edinburgh.  It is a prestigious organisation and I’m confident Atria will provide a fitting home whilst allowing it to operate more efficiently and significantly reduce property overheads.

“Both Atria One and Atria Two are getting close to full occupation.  This is further endorsement of the Council’s decision to build such a fantastic development in order to create much needed Grade A office space in the city.”

All email addresses and telephone numbers will remain the same and the Society anticipates no disruption to their services as a result of the move. Anyone wanting more information is encouraged to visit the website www.lawscot.org.uk/officemove.

Ms Jack also highlighted a new strategy for the Law Society at last night's AGM. It will be launched later this year.

She said: The Society’s current strategy “Towards 2020” was published in 2011.  Since then, many changes have taken place across the legal sector. Some we foresaw, such as court reforms, the consolidation of private practice and the impact of reductions in public spending. Other changes we didn’t anticipate for example, the rise in the use of paralegals, legal executives and legal technicians and outsourcing of legal work and the arrival of new and innovative business models now being used by our firms, even without rules for alternative business structures being up and running.

“So to remain relevant, effective and a truly world class professional body we have reviewed and substantially revised the strategy we adopted back in 2011 to ensure it is fit for 2016 and beyond.

“We’re excited by its ambition and scope and hope that our solicitor members and other stakeholders will be too.”

Solicitors at the meeting agreed to retain the current practising certificate fee at £550. This is the sixth consecutive year that the fee has been held at this level.

In addition the meeting endorsed a draft amendment to the practice rule on the ARTL Mandates in order to update the legislative basis on which the rule operates, although it makes no substantive change to the operation of the rule.

About the Law Society office move:

The Law Society, which employs over 120 staff and works with over 400 volunteers, will occupy suites 1 and 4 on the second floor of Atria One, covering approximately 19,000 square feet. The Society has agreed a 15 year lease and plans to be operational in Atria by late 2015, following a fitting out period. Its current Drumsheugh Gardens premises have been sold to a developer.

Davidson Chalmers acted on behalf of the Law Society and Jones Lang LaSalle provided property advice throughout the project.  Montagu Evans represented the City of Edinburgh Council.

You can follow the Society on twitter for updates @lawscot #LSSofficemove and there will be updates in our monthly news bulletin which is emailed to all members.

The Law Society has 58 committees in addition to its governing Council. More information can be found on the website: /about-us/who-we-are/.

About Atria Edinburgh:

Atria Edinburgh was developed and funded by the City of Edinburgh Council with part-funding from Scottish Enterprise.  It was undertaken alongside an expansion of the adjacent Edinburgh International Conference Centre (EICC).  Edinburgh International Conference Centre Ltd is a wholly owned company of the City of Edinburgh Council.

The development is split between two buildings (Atria One and Two), comprising nearly 200,000 sq ft of accommodation.  Atria One provides 186,008 sq ft of highly efficient, flexible floorplates (up to 32,000 sq ft) over seven floors and the smaller Atria Two provides 12,922 sq ft split over two office levels.

Space in both Atria One and Two remains available and is being marketed by joint letting agents JLL and Montagu Evans.