Complex sentence: He joined the Washington D.C. office of the Los Angeles-based law firm Gibson, Dunn, & Crutcher in 1977 and was appointed counselor to U.S. Attorney General William French Smith in 1981.
Split into simpler sentences: He joined the staff of the Los Angeles-based law firm Gibson, Dunn, & Crutcher in 1977, working out of their Washington office. He was appointed counselor to U.S. Attorney General William French Smith in 1981.