CLG’s new building sits at 3311 W Broad St., with GMA’s office in the background. (Michael Schwartz)
Commonwealth Law Group was formed four years ago when six attorneys struck out on their own in what turned out to be a litigious departure from Geoff McDonald & Associates.
Now the two sides are back in close proximity – as next-door neighbors.
CLG recently moved into a new office at 3311 W. Broad St., an 11,000-square-foot, two-story building that some of its partners purchased for $1.68 million in late July. (McDonald is at 3315 W. Broad St.)
The new building gives the firm, which has eight attorneys handling workers’ comp, personal injury and prisoners’ rights cases, nearly four times the square footage of its previous home at 1506 Staples Mill Road.
“We’re a growing law firm and we were just desperate for space,” said Brian Dunn, CLG’s chief operating officer. “We had to slow down our hiring because we had people packed in that old space.”
The sellers were partners of architecture firm WSP, which was the tenant prior to CLG.
The law firm occupies the entire first floor and a few offices on the second. It’s planning to rent the rest of the upstairs spaces, which it has blocked out into individual offices for lease and one 2,500-square-foot space.
Dunn said the building’s location across from the southern edge of Scott’s Addition was a selling point for the firm and will be for its efforts to lease its extra space.
“Everybody wants to be here. We think there’s some value in that,” Dunn said.
CLG was formed in 2014 when partners Jamie Karek, Dana Charback, Lauren Carroll, Seth Carroll, Elyse Stiner and Matthew Lastrapes left McDonald’s firm to start their own practice. Back-and-forth lawsuits ensued between the two sides.
And while those matters eventually were settled in early 2017, the irony of where CLG landed isn’t lost on Dunn, who said he doesn’t expect any trouble between the firm and its new neighbor.
“We kind of hoped that all the stuff that happened four years ago is behind us,” he said. “We certainly put it behind us.”
And there’s one more ironic twist to the story.
In addition to the building and 34 parking spaces, CLG’s new property includes a billboard that sits between it and GMA.
As of last week, that billboard featured an ad for GMA, which Dunn said isn’t expected to stay up much longer.
“My understanding is there is going to be something new up there in September,” he said.
CLG’s new building sits at 3311 W Broad St., with GMA’s office in the background. (Michael Schwartz)
Commonwealth Law Group was formed four years ago when six attorneys struck out on their own in what turned out to be a litigious departure from Geoff McDonald & Associates.
Now the two sides are back in close proximity – as next-door neighbors.
CLG recently moved into a new office at 3311 W. Broad St., an 11,000-square-foot, two-story building that some of its partners purchased for $1.68 million in late July. (McDonald is at 3315 W. Broad St.)
The new building gives the firm, which has eight attorneys handling workers’ comp, personal injury and prisoners’ rights cases, nearly four times the square footage of its previous home at 1506 Staples Mill Road.
“We’re a growing law firm and we were just desperate for space,” said Brian Dunn, CLG’s chief operating officer. “We had to slow down our hiring because we had people packed in that old space.”
The sellers were partners of architecture firm WSP, which was the tenant prior to CLG.
The law firm occupies the entire first floor and a few offices on the second. It’s planning to rent the rest of the upstairs spaces, which it has blocked out into individual offices for lease and one 2,500-square-foot space.
Dunn said the building’s location across from the southern edge of Scott’s Addition was a selling point for the firm and will be for its efforts to lease its extra space.
“Everybody wants to be here. We think there’s some value in that,” Dunn said.
CLG was formed in 2014 when partners Jamie Karek, Dana Charback, Lauren Carroll, Seth Carroll, Elyse Stiner and Matthew Lastrapes left McDonald’s firm to start their own practice. Back-and-forth lawsuits ensued between the two sides.
And while those matters eventually were settled in early 2017, the irony of where CLG landed isn’t lost on Dunn, who said he doesn’t expect any trouble between the firm and its new neighbor.
“We kind of hoped that all the stuff that happened four years ago is behind us,” he said. “We certainly put it behind us.”
And there’s one more ironic twist to the story.
In addition to the building and 34 parking spaces, CLG’s new property includes a billboard that sits between it and GMA.
As of last week, that billboard featured an ad for GMA, which Dunn said isn’t expected to stay up much longer.
“My understanding is there is going to be something new up there in September,” he said.