Legal advice characterises the Central Business District in Frankfurt like hardly any other user group. Property quality as a decisive driver: 60 percent of take-up is accounted for by buildings that are less than ten years old. Two dominant clusters: Opera Quarter and City Highrise clusters with different characteristics.
Frankfurt is one of the most important centres of legal services in Germany and Europe. Colliers’ current industry analysis shows that legal advice is shaping Frankfurt’s office leasing market in the Central Business District like hardly any other user group. Two spatial clusters stand out: the City-Highrise cluster with a strong international focus on commercial law firms and the Opernquartier cluster with a higher presence of German law firms. At the same time, there is an even more pronounced flight-to-quality trend than in the overall market, which is reflected in a clear focus on new buildings as well as on high-quality revitalised existing properties.
Property quality as a central driver of location decisions.
With almost 20,000 lawyers admitted to the Frankfurt Bar Association, the greater Frankfurt area is one of the most important locations for lawyers in Germany. “The high presence of law firms has a direct impact on the office leasing market: legal advice is considered a long-term user and forms a particularly stable demand segment in the city’s central locations. Law firms hardly reduce their space even when relocating, which underlines the long-term orientation and stability of this user group even more clearly,” explains Francesca Boucard, Head of Market Intelligence & Foresight at Colliers Germany. One of the key results of the analysis is the clear focus on quality in the industry: property quality is a decisive location factor for legal advice. The flight-to-quality, which is already visible in the overall market, is even more pronounced in the legal profession. Since 2020, around 60 percent of the total take-up of space by law firms has been accounted for by modern buildings that are less than ten years old – compared to 37 percent in the overall market across all industries. For rentals of 1,000 square metres or more, this proportion rises to 75 per cent. Vacancies, on the other hand, are concentrated in more than 80 percent of properties that are more than twenty years old and often do not meet today’s quality requirements. “Law firms are consciously investing in prestigious, high-quality office space that retains employees, supports a distinctive presence culture and is considered an important factor in employee acquisition in the war for talent,” says Zijad Gibic, Head of Office Letting Frankfurt at Colliers Germany.
Premium quarter with historical appeal: Opernquartier cluster.
For decades, the Westend has been one of the most important areas for legal consulting companies in Frankfurt. In the past five years, law firms accounted for 34 percent of total take-up in the Westend. The market structure is particularly striking: 73 percent of the lawyers’ take-up is accounted for by law firms of German origin. This shows that in the Westend – despite an international presence – there is a noticeable focus on German market participants. This structure is most evident in the Opernquartier cluster, which includes the southern part of the Westend and the northern transition to the banking district around the Alte Oper. German law firms make up the largest share there, which makes the cluster recognizable as a central location for this user group. This concentration is due to the character of the quarter: representative Wilhelminian structures, a prestigious location and a long-term client environment create a location that is perceived as established and stable. These factors have traditionally been decisive for German law firms when choosing a location.
International ecosystem for large law firms: City-Highrise-Cluster.
Frankfurt’s banking district is the natural centre of international legal advice in the city. The strong influence of large Anglo-Saxon law firms is clearly recognizable: they account for around 70 percent of the legal take-up in the banking district and thus significantly shape the demand and location structure. The close proximity to financial institutions, international transaction advisors and globally active companies creates a highly dynamic environment that corresponds to the working models and market mechanisms of international law firms. This orientation is most evident in the City Highrise cluster, which forms the central settlement focus within the banking district. The modern high-rise infrastructure, the high density of international players and the direct integration into global financial and decision-making networks reflect exactly those location requirements that are familiar from markets such as London and New York and are considered clear indicators of prestige and performance both there and in Frankfurt. For Anglo-Saxon law firms, the City Highrise Cluster therefore acts as a natural counterpart to their locations of origin – highly dense, international and designed for fast decision-making processes.
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“Frankfurt will continue to consolidate its role as one of the leading locations for legal advice and law firms will remain one of the most influential user groups in Frankfurt’s Central Business District. The demand for high-quality office space continues unabated – current requests clearly show that premium space in the best locations continues to be in high demand. At the same time, the comparatively constant space requirement when relocating underlines the long-term stability of this user group,” Zijad Gibic concludes. You can download the one-pager for the analysis under the following link: https://www.colliers.de/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Anwaltsanalyse_Frankfurt.pdf
