Defections, Indecision Force Firm to Close Doors : Law: Drummy, Garrett, King & Harrison, which opened in 1969 and today has 44 lawyers, decides to shut down March 15.

Victimized by internal indecision and key defections, Drummy, Garrett, King & Harrison, one of Orange County’s larger and older law firms, is calling it quits.

The Costa Mesa-based firm said Friday that it will cease operations March 15. Most of its 44 lawyers have yet to decide where they will go, but a core group is expected to form a boutique practice specializing in corporate law and trial work.

Drummy Garrett is a professional corporation with 15 shareholders--the equivalent of partners at other firms--and 29 lawyer-employees. It also has a support staff of 54 paralegals, secretaries and clerks, most of whom are expected to follow the lawyers to their new practices.

John C. Garrett, one of the firm’s co-managers, is in final negotiations with San Francisco’s Pillsbury, Madison & Sutro to join Pillsbury’s Costa Mesa office. Both sides said they hoped to reach a decision next week.

Garrett is one of the county’s more highly regarded and high-powered lawyers. As an expert in real estate law, he has handled a number of major projects and has counted some big companies among his client list, including the Irvine Co., the giant developer.

His impending departure--along with the clients who were likely to follow him--was believed to be the final blow that caused Drummy Garrett to close shop. The decision had been coming for some time and was made amicably, said Garrett and Janet Taylor, the firm’s administrator.

“Still, when you hear it confirmed, it comes as a surprise,” Taylor said. “This has been such a great place to work.”

Started in 1969, the firm experienced its greatest growth--jumping from nine lawyers to 49 lawyers--in the 1980s as it rode the county’s business and real estate boom to its heights. While the firm handled corporate securities and tax matters and trial work, its biggest emphasis was on real estate law.

Over the past few years, Garrett said, the 15 owners of Drummy Garrett had been torn over whether it should remain a mid-size firm or grow rapidly to compete with the increasing number of large metropolitan firms opening offices in the county.

The lawyers knew they couldn’t remain a mid-size firm because it would eventually prove economically difficult to maintain, he said, but they could not agree on a comprehensive business plan to implement.

In addition, Garrett said, he and co-manager Stephen C. Drummy were both spending up to 40% of their time on administrative matters, taking them away from practicing law. He said the firm was hurt by its inability to adopt a business plan.

Last summer, the firm started talking more seriously about restructuring. But in September, four real estate partners representing part of the firm’s next generation of leaders left to open the local office for Pillsbury Madison, the state’s second-largest firm, with more than 600 lawyers.

Garrett recently let his colleagues know that he, too, was negotiating to join Pillsbury’s Costa Mesa office. Garrett’s clients reportedly represent $3 million to $4 million in annual revenue, and Drummy Garrett would be hard-pressed to replace that income without downsizing anyway.

Garrett wouldn’t comment on his clients or the revenue, saying such information is confidential. He also pointed out that it would be up to the clients, not the lawyers, to decide who will get their legal business.