Office Space Options

Along with several other solo colleagues, I’m quoted in this exhaustive Maryland Daily Record  piece on office rental options here in the D.C. area.  One aspect of the article that surprised me is the wide disparity in rental prices across the region.  One of the attorneys profiled pays $1900 for space in Beltsville, Maryland that houses nine lawyers.  That’s just a bit less than the going rate for  a single office in a nice location in Washington D.C. Another lawyer interviewed pays $1000/month for a space in the Kentlands, in Maryland, one of those faux community neighborhoods with a mix of residential living, shopping and restaurants.

It’s easy to tell new solos that office space is a must.  But if your first $1500/month is already spoken for with student loan payments, putting the next $1500 towards office rent may not be the best use of your capital. On the other hand, if rent is only $500/month, it’s a different calculation.  There’s lots of good advice – just like there’s lots of good law.  As a lawyer, you need to decide whether the advice or the law fits the facts that you’re working with.