We have been in our current Seattle office space for twenty years. We have personalized the office space and tried to make it a fun place to come together. However, very few clients or prospective clients come to our offices.

We actually meet with less than a third of our clients. It's not that we are aloof or unfriendly. Just the opposite is true. However, most businesspersons have better ways to spend their time than to drive to Seattle to meet their lawyers when all they need to do is pick up the phone or send a fax or email.

Similarly, lawyers do not drive to other lawyers' offices to discuss legal matters. Again, this is done by phone, fax, email, etc.

Even court appearances are becoming increasingly rare. There is multi-party conferencing by telephone. Both the state and federal courts of Washington and Oregon now accept electronic filings. Telephonic hearings with judges can be arranged through the court, where one or both lawyers present motions to the court by telephone rather than by court appearance. In fact, oral presentations of motions in King County Superior Court are restricted to those involving in summary judgment. Rarely is oral presentation of a motion permitted in federal court.

Depositions may be taken by telephone. Even legal research is done electronically. You no longer see shelves with sheepskin covered law books adorning the walls of law offices anymore. Legal research is conducted through Westlaw, which is a computer based legal research system located in Chicago.

As a result of all of these technological and legal advancements in recent years, the actual location of our office or that of our client has become less and less important.