As described in the “About & Contact” link, a war room is a Location in a law office, hotel or court room. Locations, as real estate, cost money. It seems to make sense, in this first posting, to briefly mention costs savings incurred by the use of war rooms, as real estate. In a July 2003 article in The Wall Street Journal’s, Real Estate Journal, Ms. Sheila Muto reported that some firms benefit from a 20% reduction in their overall occupancy cost as the result of war room utilization. The law firm of Sedgwick, Detert, Moran & Arnold LLP was able to reduce space otherwise dedicated to libraries and computer servers by building war rooms. In their Chicago Office, every fifth office space is set up as a war room, or “teaming area.” These spaces were designed with flexibility. Not only can files be housed in the war room for the duration of a trial, but the rooms can be expanded or reduced in size by moving wall panels and furniture. The savings have proven to be so great, that, as of July 2003, the firm was considering paying a $2.5 million termination fee in it’s Los Angeles office to move to a more flexible location. The Law and Technology Center will make an attempt to follow up with Sedgwick, Detert, Moran & Arnold and report back as to the path they chose and how it worked out for them.