Legal leasing's record quarter is a narrow office signal

Law firms signed 7.3 million square feet of office leases in the second quarter of 2026, a record for the sector and a 27% jump from a year earlier, according to Cushman & Wakefield's Legal Sector Leasing Trends report, as covered by Connect CRE; first-half volume reached 12.2 million square feet, up 17% from the same period in 2025.

The quarter extends the pattern from our August 28 analysis of first-half legal leasing: the recovery is being written by a narrow slice of the market. Nine of the ten largest leases signed this year came from AmLaw 100 firms, 43% of first-half deals were expansions, and New York City took 30% of the quarter's volume, with Chicago and the D.C. Metro next.

This year's broader property recovery has run on supply — a drop in construction has given owners leverage — while the legal data show demand arriving in the narrowest slice of the market. Across the ten major legal markets Cushman & Wakefield tracks, law firms accounted for 14% of all office leasing in the quarter: one tenant class, three metros, expansion rather than relocation, demand growing in place rather than spreading across the stock.

The same bifurcation has shown up on the capital side this summer, most clearly in the all-cash $86 million Phoenix office record along the Camelback Corridor, covered last week. The legal data add a demand-side leg to that clearing trade: trophy assets now have both buyers and tenants while the commodity stack still faces the refinancing wall.

The report's own outlook projects that velocity may ease in the second half while the legal sector remains positioned for another standout year; the record is price discovery confined to the strongest buildings.

Watch whether Chicago and D.C. hold the pace they set in the second quarter. If they do, legal demand becomes a genuine pillar of a recovering office market; if volume reverts to New York and the AmLaw 100, the trophy thesis simply adds another data point while the rest of the stack waits.