February 2010

 

CHICAGO, ILL. — The national law firm of Quarles & Brady LLP is pleased to announce that its Chicago office has achieved Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (“LEED^®”) Gold Certification from the U.S. Green Building Council, making it the first publicly registered law office in Chicago to achieve LEED Gold status.

“We are very proud to receive this recognition of our strong commitment to environmental sustainability,” said John Daniels, Jr., Chairman of Quarles & Brady. “In designing our new office space, it was essential that it accommodate our platform for strategic growth in the Chicago market while meeting the needs of our clients, attorneys and staff.”

“Sustainability has changed how the world does business and Quarles & Brady is no exception. LEED certification and sustainable protocols were part of every decision from the selection of the building to the build-out and design of our space,” said Courtney M. Landon, the Firm’s Chicago Office Administrator. “We’re thrilled that we were able to achieve LEED Gold while reducing our footprint and building the space at 30 percent less than comparable Chicago legal offices. The response from clients to our hospitality-minded space and breathtaking city views has been incredible.”

LEED is the nation’s preeminent program for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings. Quarles & Brady earned LEED Gold certification in recognition of its superior performance in various areas, including:

• Water use reduction;
  
  
• Daylight responsive controls installed in all occupied spaces to reduce energy use;
  
  
• 25 percent of building materials manufactured using recycled materials;
  
  
• Building site has a vegetated roof on 50.5 percent of the roof area;
  
  
• Use of Energy Star-rated equipment and appliances;
  
  
• 95 percent of construction waste diverted from landfills;
  
  
• Use of construction materials to improve indoor air quality; and
  
  
• Innovation in the design process.

Floor-to-ceiling exterior and interior windows are one exemplary feature of the Gold Certified office. This design allows for maximum daylight, which permeates to the interior of the office and reduces use of artificial lighting.

Sustainable hospitality is another unique feature of the office. Beverage stations, located in central areas, serve all conference rooms to reduce waste and make more efficient use of space. The Firm also installed 90-second, high-temperature dishwashers and eliminated all disposable plates, cups and cutlery.

“Building operations are nearly 40 percent of the solution to the global climate change challenge,” said Rick Fedrizzi, President, CEO & Founding Chair, U.S. Green Building Council. “While climate change is a global problem, innovative companies like Quarles & Brady are addressing it through local solutions.”

In late March 2009, Quarles & Brady moved into 75,000 square feet of office space in a new LEED Gold-designed Hines Building located at 300 N. LaSalle on the Chicago River. The Firm’s Chicago office has grown to approximately 70 lawyers since it opened in 1999 with the acquisition of Wilson & McIlvaine, a 28-lawyer Chicago firm. The new space accommodates this strategic growth and will allow the Firm to expand to as many as 110 attorneys in Chicago.

Quarles & Brady LLP is a full-service law firm with more than 425 attorneys practicing from offices in Phoenix and Tucson, Ariz.; Chicago, Ill.; Naples, Fla.; and Milwaukee and Madison, Wis. The Firm offers an array of legal services to corporate and individual clients that range from small entrepreneurial businesses to Fortune 100 companies. Additional information about the Firm may be found at www.quarles.com.