An Atlanta-based law firm has signed a nearly 12,000-square-foot lease at One Financial Center in downtown Boston, planting a flag in a city it has been eyeing for almost two years. Arnall Golden Gregory plans to open the new office in the spring with at least 18 people on staff, and it has already poached a trio of intellectual-property partners from a Boston rival to help get it off the ground.
The 220-lawyer firm is currently working out of a temporary location at One Financial while its permanent space comes together, according to The Boston Globe. Arnall Golden Gregory already has offices in Atlanta and Washington, and is adding Boston to its footprint.
A Whole Team, Not Just a Hire or Two
A Whole Team, Not Just a Hire or Two Rather than pick off a single partner, Arnall Golden Gregory recruited three intellectual-property partners and a number of support staffers from Lando & Anastasi. Partners Craig Smith, Angelyn Larkin and Nathan Harris all joined the Boston office, along with associate Kevin Eckert, according to the same Globe report. They join two partners who had already signed on earlier, Stephen Provazza and Nicholas Tsimortos.
Larkin is a partner in Arnall Golden Gregory's Intellectual Property practice and a member of its Life Sciences industry team, according to her firm biography. She works particularly closely with emerging and growth-stage biotechnology companies on patent portfolios, intellectual-property counseling and corporate transactions, and she holds a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from MIT. Larkin told the Globe she joined the firm to offer clients legal services beyond intellectual property, including mergers and acquisitions and federal regulatory approvals, and said her clients were excited about the firm's expanded capabilities.
Betting on a Hot Boston Leasing Market
The move lands amid a surge in law-firm leasing activity across Boston. Firms signed around 800,000 square feet of leases in the city during the year ending in May, a 332% jump in demand from the prior year, according to data from Avison Young cited by Bisnow. Sixty-two law firms with lease expirations between 2026 and 2028 had yet to sign new deals as of that report, representing 1.6 million square feet of pent-up demand, and 13 firms were actively hunting for more than 20,000 square feet of space.
Law firm renewals made up more than 70% of Boston's office-market activity in 2025, per the same Avison Young figures. Other big players had made moves earlier: Jones Day signed a 41,000-square-foot lease at South Station Tower, while Ropes & Gray renewed and expanded its 413,000-square-foot lease at Prudential Tower, the report notes. Arnall Golden Gregory's new footprint is modest by comparison, roughly a third of the size of the Boston office Weil Gotshal is set to vacate.
Competing on Price, Not Size
Fogarty said the firm aims to compete with bigger rivals by offering better pricing, in part by structuring its legal work with flexible staffing levels rather than piling on overhead. The firm is betting that approach will resonate with Boston's dense cluster of life-sciences and healthcare clients.
The Atlanta expansion mirrors a similar move in the opposite direction. Saul Ewing, a national firm with more than 450 lawyers, opened an Atlanta office earlier this fall in Midtown's Promenade Central building, starting with five partners and several support staff, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. That firm said it plans to grow its new Atlanta office by recruiting more local talent, the same playbook Arnall Golden Gregory appears to be running in reverse as it builds out its Boston team ahead of the spring opening.
