Apparently, Paul Hastings is planning to bring lawyer cubicles to New York.  First and second year associates won’t get an office; instead, they’ll get a cubicle.  The firm pitches this as a move to enhance creativity; conveniently, it also saves expenses on office space.

Whenever I hear about moves like this – which include offices with glass walls, or offices shares by multiple people – I always wonder: But how will they sleep?

Leaving aside the sleep research demonstrating the cognitive benefits of naps, I know from personal experience that I cannot get through a full working day – let alone the kind of long day that lawyers often must work – without one or two 20-minute naps.  I’ve talked to other lawyers and I’ve heard the same thing; they loathe glass walls and other open-office plans not simply for the lack of privacy, but because they need space to sleep.

Google is famous for, among other things, counterbalancing shared offices and glass walls with sleeping pods – which likely benefits employee productivity (and also, presumably,  is part of a strategy to keep employees from ever leaving the complex).  I suppose Paul Hastings could try something similar, but I’m guessing the cultural taboos against napping – especially among lawyers, who take punishing hours are taken as proof of commitment to the firm – would inhibit their use.

I get why firms may feel the need to cut costs – and lots of attorneys, as well as workers in other fields, have long toiled in cubicles or at shared desks – but won’t someone think of the nappers?