Womble Carlyle Standridge & Rice, a national law firm headed in Maryland by former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., has signed a lease to move its state offices from Linthicum to downtown Baltimore within the next two months, commercial brokerage Cushman & Wakefield Inc. said Wednesday.

The firm has signed a lease for 17,737 square feet at 250 W. Pratt St., a 24-story, 368,194-square-foot office building owned by Behringer Harvard Funds.

"We are thrilled to have such a prestigious law firm choose 250 W. Pratt Street as its Maryland office location," Tim Jackson, a broker with Cushman & Wakefield, said in a news release. "We look forward to working with Womble Carlyle as they continue to growth their practice in Baltimore."

Terms of the lease were not disclosed.

In addition to Jackson, Cushman & Wakefield brokers T. Courtenay Jenkins and Whitney M. Nye represented Behringer Harvard in the deal. Andy Andrews, a broker with Colliers Pinkard, represented Womble Carlyle.

The lease brings 250 W. Pratt St. to a 95 percent occupancy, leaving just 16,000 square feet vacant. Jenkins said the asking rent for that space ranges from $27.50 to $28.50.

The deal partially offsets plans by another law firm, Semmes, Bowen & Semmes, to move its offices from 250 W. Pratt St. to 25 S. Charles St. The firm, which needs about 60,000 square feet, plans to move in April 2008.

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