Behar Gibbs Savage Paulson Sign Lease at Long Beach Offices

Another law firm is doubling down on the Southern California office market.

Behar Gibbs Savage Paulson has renewed its 35,754-square-foot lease across two floors at One World Trade Center in Long Beach, JLL, which represented the firm, announced. The firm did not provide lease terms, but noted the asking rent in the building ranges from $2.95 to $3.15 per square foot per month.

The law firm has occupied the top two floors of Long Beach’s World Trade Center, a 27-story, 574,981-square-foot building for the last 35 years. The company “considers it one of the most prestigious locations in Long Beach,” Jeff Behar, founding partner of Behar Gibbs Savage Paulson said in the release.

Over the past two years, law firms have been some of the most active companies taking office space across the country, including in Los Angeles. In the first quarter, law firms leased 4.6 million square feet of office space across the country, marking a 25 percent year-over-year increase and the strongest first quarter on record for the sector, according to Cushman & Wakefield data cited by CoStar. That activity makes up 8.4 percent of total leasing volume across the top 10 U.S. legal markets.

In L.A., office absorption since 2023 has been increasingly dominated by law firms and financial companies; by contrast, tech and entertainment companies led the way in grabbing space between 2021 and 2023, according to Avison Young.

Last week, Fisher Phillips signed a new lease for 35,744 square feet at 515 South Flower Street in Downtown Los Angeles, as well as a new 13,624-square-foot lease at 21600 Oxnard Street in Woodland Hills, marking a footprint expansion in L.A. for the Atlanta-based labor and employment law firm. Other law firms that have renewed or signed new leases in DTLA in recent years include Paul Hastings, Hill, Farrer & Burrill, Hanson Bridgett and Mayer Brown.

“The legal sector continues to be a catalyst for activating urban areas in Southern California and throughout the country,” JLL’s Mike McKeever, who represented the tenant in the deal, said in a statement.