Pillsbury closes west coast office

Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman is to close its Century City office, consolidating its Los Angeles operations into its downtown office.

The firm will house all 90 LA lawyers into its downtown office by the end of July, in a move that bucks recent trends in the city.

Century City is seen as a crucial location for firms servicing the entertainment industry, and is regarded as a popular lifestyle location for lawyers uninterested in the long commute to downtown Los Angeles.

Steptoe & Johnson was the latest firm to open in Century City, with five attorneys now based there.

Pillsbury’s chairman-elect James Rishwain, who will join about 10 other lawyers in moving downtown, was reported in US media to have said: “Century City was really more of a redundancy and not serving our purpose with respect to clients.”

Pillsbury lost its Century City office managing partner Lewis Feldman earlier this year to Goodwin Procter.