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Law360 (November 30, 2020, 4:07 PM EST) -- U.K.-based law firm Penningtons Manches Cooper LLP closed its only United States location, in San Francisco, at the end of the summer due to challenges arising from the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the firm confirmed to Law360 on Monday.
Penningtons opened its San Francisco location in 2014, hoping to bolster its technology and life sciences divisions and its connections in the region.
"The onset of the pandemic has meant that it has not been possible for our U.K.-based partners who previously spent significant periods on the West Coast to physically attend meetings and events," a spokesperson for Penningtons told Law360 in an emailed statement. "In light of the ongoing economic uncertainty, it was also prudent to address the costs related to having an on-the-ground presence in San Francisco."
The firm said it would "remain committed" to San Francisco and the Bay area as a whole, specifically its contacts in the tech sector.
"The swift and near universal move to remote working has demonstrated that retaining an office space is not essential to delivering a high level of service and support to U.S. businesses looking to expand their activity in the U.K.," the statement said. "Once travel restrictions begin to ease, the partners who are particularly focused on the region will continue to visit on a regular basis."
The number of attorneys in the San Francisco office was not immediately available.
The news follows a merger between Penningtons and Thomas Cooper in 2019, as well as a 17% rise in revenues to £93 million ($122 million at the time) and a 12% bump in profit to £28 million in its previous fiscal year, the firm said in August. The firm also has offices in Madrid, Paris, Singapore and Sao Paulo as well as several in the U.K., with 130 partners and 880 total employees worldwide.
Law firms haven't been immune to the economic effects of the pandemic, and many have have shifted their strategies to protect their bottom lines. While some firms have resorted to layoffs, others are restoring pay reductions instituted earlier in the year and even handing out special bonuses for work during the pandemic.
Like Penningtons, Boies Schiller Flexner LLP told Law360 in November it was rethinking its need for office space a year after opening a new location in Manhattan's Hudson Yards.
The pandemic hasn't stopped other firms from expanding in the Bay Area, however, including U.K. outfits Kennedys in June and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP in July.
With 1.2 million cases, California is second only to Texas in total U.S. cases of COVID-19, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. The state's previous record for daily cases in August has been surpassed in November, last week reaching its highest figure at 18,350. London also experienced its largest surge in cases throughout autumn.
--Editing by Alanna Weissman.
For a reprint of this article, please contact reprints@law360.com.
