Federal Judiciary

Question: visiting lawyer office amenities

By Michael Smith

One of the things on my to-do list for my new offices in Marshall is to outfit the two small offices I have for visiting lawyers, and I thought I'd ask my readers what they like when visiting offices out of town.  I know what I like is to have a quiet space to work to get ready for a hearing, and check my e-mail (and wifi for the latter, of course), so I made a point of getting office space that has a couple of small offices well-suited for this (the ship room and the DC room, based on the prints already up on the walls), and put in a broadband wireless wifi network that's insanely fast.  But I have not yet furnished them, since how they're set up depends on what they'll be used for.
But what do visiting lawyers need space for?  Private work space?  Meeting space with other lawyers?  Should the furnishings be more like an office (desk) or more like a conference room (table and chairs)?  What other things do readers like or appreciate, whether you've seen it or not.  A recliner for naps?  Fresh-baked cookies?  A desktop computer with internet and a printer (or is that passe, given the prevalance of laptops)?  A television?  Charging stations for handhelds and phones?  One of those fancy coffee machines where you drop in flavored cartridges?  Harlequin romance novels? Masseurs and cholesterol screenings (not at all out of the question given my location)?
Even more interesting, what are things you've seen that you really did NOT like? 
Just let me know - I'll post on the results.

Full post as published by Eastern District of Texas Federal Court Practice on February 20, 2008 (boomark / email).