A&O Shearman moves into new City HQ after 20 years in Spitalfields

A&O Shearman has begun moving into its new global headquarters at 2 Broadgate, leaving the Spitalfields office that has housed the firm for two decades.

The firm is relocating from One Bishops Square to the Broadgate campus next to Liverpool Street station, with the move due to complete by the end of October.

A&O Shearman will occupy around 360,000 sq ft across eight floors. London is the firm’s largest office, with more than 1,800 lawyers and business professionals, including nearly 200 partners.

End of an era

A&O has been based at One Bishops Square since 2006.

During that time, the firm successfully navigated the 2008 financial crisis - an episode that later became the subject of a Harvard Law School case study - and completed its landmark merger with Shearman & Sterling in 2024.

The new office has been designed around flexible working, with shared spaces, collaboration areas and private rooms. A full-scale trial floor was tested at One Bishops Square for more than 18 months before the final design was completed.

The building also includes a dedicated client entrance and floor, auditorium, fitness and wellbeing centre, on-site medical services and more than 550 cycle spaces.

A&O Shearman said the move is expected to cut annual carbon emissions from its London office by around 90%, with about 1,500 items of furniture being reused from One Bishops Square.

UK managing partner Denise Gibson described the move as a “significant moment” for the London office and said the new headquarters was designed “for the decades ahead”.

City firms on move

Several of the City’s biggest law firms have been on the move recently. Earlier this year, Linklaters opened its new global headquarters at 20 Ropemaker Street in the City after 30 years at its office at One Silk Street.

Clifford Chance, meanwhile, is due to relocate from Canary Wharf to a new HQ in the City in 2028.