Law firm Reed Smith has closed its Westlake Village office saying that the business it conducts along the 101 Corridor will be handled from its Century City quarters. Brent Reinke, the partner that had run the office, has relocated to Century City, where he will continue his involvement with Tech Corridor clients as well as Gold Coast Venture Forum, a trade group for emerging companies in the area that Reinke founded, officials said. Reinke was the only attorney located at the Westlake Village office, which made retaining the location impractical from an economic standpoint. “It really was a decision that had nothing to do with anything beyond pure office economics and efficiencies,” said Jack Nelson, managing partner for California at Reed Smith LLC. “We are not giving up on the Ventura Corridor. We still have a lot of clients there.” The office was closed at the end of September. Reinke said the decision was made for administrative reasons. “The firm made a decision to consolidate Westlake Village with Century City because they want to centralize their offices,” he said. “They were very happy with how the office was performing.” Nelson said that the firm’s nearly 100 attorneys in its Los Angeles and Century City offices service clients throughout the L.A. area, and it did not make sense to relocate them to Westlake Village. Meanwhile Reinke, who specializes in mergers and acquisitions and other services related to emerging growth companies, can continue to service Tech Corridor companies from the Century City location. “Brent probably still has the dominant part of his practice in the area,” Nelson said. “With technology these days, it’s awfully easy to have the lawyer come to the client. It’s expensive to have an office that can hold up to six people, and it takes away from our efforts to do other things in L.A. and Century City.” Realizing that a hub of technology companies was gathering along the 101 Corridor, Reinke opened the Tech Corridor practice about four years ago while managing director at Clark & Trevithick.
