Most of Reed Smith's American and European offices aren't open when the firm's Beijing and Hong Kong personnel start their business days. But though the Asian offices are 12 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time, attorneys and staff there can call on the law firm's Pittsburgh headquarters any time of the day or night to track documents, process dictation or send out a bulk mailing.

The uninterrupted connection between Reed Smith's flagship and its 23 other offices worldwide is made possible by a business center in the Gulf Tower, Downtown, that operates 24 hours, seven days a week.

There, three shifts of employees provide administrative support around the clock to the firm's 1,600-plus attorneys and other staffers. When switchboards shut down for the day in Reed Smith's offices around the world, calls are automatically routed to the 24/7 operation, which the firm refers to as its global business center. If a CD needs to be burned or copied, a Power Point presentation needs to be created or a database needs to be entered, employees in the global center do it.

About 25 skilled professionals work in the center, which Reed Smith began planning for in 2007 as its international merger activity approached a fever pitch.

Last year, Reed Smith added 300 lawyers through a merger with Richards Butler London and early this year, the firm added another 110 attorneys from Richards Butler's Hong Kong and Beijing offices to its ranks. Domestic expansion also continues with the firm announcing plans for a new office in Palo Alto, Calif., later this year.

Based on the volume of work the center processes, employment will probably grow, said Pat Hiltibidal, chief of office services for Reed Smith. "Adding 10 by the end of the year wouldn't be shocking to me," she said.

When Reed Smith decided to create the global center, it wasn't assumed it would be located in Pittsburgh.

"I was compelled to explore the likes of India," said Ms. Hiltibidal.

And North Dakota, too.

"We mostly looked at India. We had a vendor we were considering, and did some fact-finding. And we looked at North Dakota. But we concluded the best approach was to try and set this up in the city of Pittsburgh .... It was a win-win."

Because of the range of tasks they are asked to handle, the global center staff has "highly technical, client service skills," said Ms. Hiltibidal. The firm recruits college graduates for the jobs and because they interact with lawyers and clients, "they have to be very adept at responding."

One of the biggest challenges of launching the center was promoting it to longtime attorneys "who want to go to Betty or Susie up the hall" to have dictation transcribed or time-sensitive correspondence delivered, Ms. Hiltibidal said.

As it beefs up the services provided 24/7 by the global center, Reed Smith is strategically shifting away from traditional secretaries who work for just one or two attorneys.

In April, the firm laid off 21 secretaries in Pittsburgh "and a smattering elsewhere," said Ms. Hiltibidal. "The truth of the matter is we are looking at our [secretary-lawyer] ratios and looking to improve them and make them more competitive."

The firm is creating clusters of secretaries, ideally in groups of eight or 10, who will work as a "self-directed team" to service specialty practice groups at the firm, said Ms. Hiltibidal.

"We want to be more collaborative. To be honest, providing legal support services has changed a lot and very quickly."

The secretaries who were laid off in April were invited to apply for jobs at the global center, but none have landed there.

"We gave them a very healthy severance package," said Ms. Hiltibidal.

Through the global business center, "we're trying to provide more services on a consolidated basis," she said. "And we can put all the tools on 25 desks ... instead of rolling them out to 600 secretaries."

Reed Smith plans to relocate next year from its Sixth Avenue building to Three PNC Plaza, a 23-story high-rise under construction on Fifth Avenue, but the global center, which requires an open floor plan, will not move there. The firm is looking for space for the center and has signed a lease extension at Gulf Tower until it "figures out our next move," said Ms. Hiltibidal.