Miller Thomson LLP is moving on up. The national business law firm has renewed its lease in downtown Toronto’s Scotia Plaza at 40 King St. W. for 15 years – but it is moving higher within the building's uppermost floors. 

KingSett Capital and AIMCo are the joint owners of Scotia Plaza.

Miller Thomson currently occupies the 58th to 61st floors, as well as part of the 57th floor. It plans to occupy the 63rd to 66th floors by no later than February 2025.

“It aligns with our movement in the marketplace and our trajectory and our ascension to the top of the legal marketplace,” Ken Rosenstein, managing partner of Miller Thomson's Toronto office, told RENX.

The firm has been a tenant in the tower since 2006. The lease also contains renewal options.

The top floors of the 35-year-old WZMH Architects-designed tower had previously been occupied by Scotiabank.

But they’ve now been gutted to accommodate Miller Thomson. A design committee has asked for employee feedback and is in the early stages of putting plans together to make the best use of the space. 

Scotiabank remains the anchor tenant in the Scotia Plaza office complex — which also includes 44 King St. W., 100 Yonge St. and 11 Adelaide St. W. — after renewing a 560,000-square-foot lease in February 2021.

Scotia Plaza contains apporoximately two million square feet of space.

BentallGreenOak is the property manager and responsible for leasing Scotia Plaza, Canada’s second-tallest office building.

Miller Thomson's Scotia Plaza lease a win-win

“Given our longstanding relationship with the landlord, we got very favourable terms as they saw us as being a key tenant,” Rosenstein said.

“And as a matter of fact, they've been able to attract other tenants as a result of our renewal.

“So it was very strategic on both of our ends and from both of our perspectives. I think that it was a good deal for everybody and I’m glad to say that our cost structure will not be materially different.”

Miller Thomson offers a range of services in litigation and disputes and provides business law expertise in mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance and securities, financial services, tax, restructuring and insolvency, trade, real estate, labour and employment, and other specialty areas.

The appeal of Scotia Plaza

“We definitely wanted to remain in a triple-A building and, when you start doing your research, there aren’t that many triple-A buildings,” Rosenstein explained.

“We still felt that it was important and that there was cachet to being at King and Bay. 

“We're in the centre of the financial district. I know there are other companies moving out from that core, but we still feel that the core is important to us and it's still the centre of our industry and of business for our market.

“We want to be close to centres of influence. We still wanted to be close to public transit and being on the PATH was important as well for people who are commuting.”

Rosenstein said the office move also coincides with a corporate rebranding that will involve refreshing and updating its website, social media platforms, logo and font starting next month.

Miller Thomson is also appreciative of what Scotia Plaza has to offer from an environmental, social and governance perspective.

It has Zero Carbon Building – Performance v2, LEED Platinum, Fitwel and WiredScore Certified: Gold certifications as well as a 5,700-square-foot green roof that’s home to more than 100,000 bees.

68th-floor tenant amenity space

The 68th floor of Scotia Plaza will become a tenant amenity space, which Rosenstein said was another major factor in Miller Thomson’s decision to remain in the building.

“They came to us and showed us ideas and what their intentions are to do with that top floor, which used to be the old trading floor for Scotia,” said Rosenstein.

“We have negotiated to be part of the decision-making process and have influence and consultation and input into how we're going to use that space. 

“I believe it’s partly going to be conference room space and then part of it is going to have restaurant, coffee bar and wine bar capability so that we've got some social space where members of our firm can work together and collaborate and socialize and entertain clients.”

The space won’t be exclusive to Miller Thomson but, given its proximity right below it and the firm’s involvement with its design, Rosenstein believes it will make the most use of it.

Flexible work options not new for Miller Thomson

The move will result in Miller Thomson reducing its footprint somewhat in Scotia Plaza as it reconfigures its workplace and further adapts to hybrid working models. 

The 66-year-old law firm had a flexible office schedule well before it became commonplace in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, however.

“It's not new for us to have arrangements where people would work from home part-time or service different offices from different locations,” Rosenstein noted. 

“The rest of the market caught up to us through the pandemic, but we always operated this way. . . . I wouldn't say necessarily to the extent that we do now, but that was always part of our DNA.”

Approximately 400 people work in Miller Thomson’s Toronto office.

The firm, which employs approximately 525 lawyers plus support staff nationally, also has offices in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Regina, Saskatoon, London, Waterloo Region, Vaughan and Montreal.

Workers returning more often to offices

While Miller Thomson hasn’t established mandates for how much people have to be in the office, Rosenstein said there are advantages to having them together.

“We believe that it's important to have some in-office connectivity for mentoring, training and collaboration.

"We find that when you're in the office together, there's a lot more brainstorming and a lot of discussions that take place that can't take place virtually and by Zoom. 

“So we're encouraging people to come in two or three times a week. The preference would be at least three days a week.

“We're trying to do things to earn the commute and to give reasons for people to be in the office, so we've tried a whole bunch of different initiatives to get people working together and in the office together.”

Office attendance has been creeping back up, according to Rosenstein, who said people are realizing they missed some elements of the workplace culture and appreciate the mentoring, social and teamwork aspects.