[Ads-l] Media inquiry: "Law Offices of", why always plural?

[Benjamin Lukoff]

Perhaps I'm overthinking this, but I thought of "good offices," as in
"through the good offices of." The OED defines "offices" in this context as
"a service or kindness done, or attention shown or given, towards anyone."
So could "offices" be a synonym for "services" here? "Law services of
So-and-So"?

Ben Lukoff
Seattle

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From:    "Cohen, Gerald Leonard" <gcohen at MST.EDU>
Subject: Media inquiry: "Law Offices of", why always plural?

I've just received the media inquiry below and don't have an answer.
Would someone on our listserv perhaps have a suggestion?

Gerald Cohen

*   *  *   *   *

From: Philip Johnson [Philip_Johnson at dailyjournal.com]
Sent: Monday, August 10, 2015 1:29 PM
To: Cohen, Gerald Leonard
Subject: Media inquiry

Sir,

I write for a legal publication and have a question on the origin of the
term “Law Offices of ….”. Why is it always law officeS, the plural? What if
it is just one room? Wouldn’t that make it a law office? A lot of solo
attorneys advertise as having Law Offices, and I imagine them going back
and forth between dimly lit rooms to read legal texts and ponder deeply.
I’m wondering if there is a story behind that plural form?

Phil Johnson
Reporter, Northern California Superior Courts
415-296-2445

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org