A lot has changed since 2004, when DLA Piper hired Lehman Smith McLeish to personalize a spec building going up on a parking lot in the Penn Quarter in Washington, D.C. As the desolate neighborhood blossomed into a vibrant mixed-use hub, DLA Piper morphed, after multiple mergers, into one of the largest law firms on the planet. Leaving behind a tired 1980’s office, the expanded firm seized upon the 230,000-square-foot space to forge a new identity and work paradigm.

Debra Lehman-Smith lost no time in presenting modifications to developer Boston Properties and building architect Hartman-Cox Architects, which embraced her vision to reshape the structure, still in the schematic phase. That set the tone for an extensive and remarkably collegial collaboration and of course reduced the expenses and complications that last-minute interventions entail. The changes were hardly insignificant. Lehman-Smith completely reorganized the entry and eliminated a through-block lobby that would have bisected the building and fragmented the other ground-level spaces. This created two distinct entries, including a dedic
ated one for DLA Piper on the building’s quieter side, facing the historic General Post Office, now the Hotel Monaco.