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 Washington, D.C., office of the Los Angeles--based law firm Gibson, Dunn, & Crutcher in 1977. He was appointed counselor to U.S. attorney general William French Smith in 1981.