Top Law Firm in Century City to Be Dissolved : Professions: Gendel Raskoff’s partners had disagreed over whether to continue specializing in bankruptcy law or be a full-service operation.

Partners at Gendel, Raskoff, Shapiro & Quittner, for many years one of the country’s premier firms in bankruptcy and reorganization law, have voted to dissolve the Century City firm Oct. 31.

Several of the partners have already announced intentions to join other law firms. Insiders say merger negotiations continue between remaining partners and a large New York firm looking to open a branch office in Los Angeles.

It was the question of whether to link up with a large, full-service firm or remain a “boutique” specializing in bankruptcy-related issues that led to the dissolution of the firm. Robert Jay Moore, a Gendel Raskoff partner, called it a “philosophical difference” over the firm’s future.

Gendel Raskoff is the latest of a clutch of prominent, if small, Century City firms to break up. Others include Wolf & Leo; Rosen, Wachtell & Gilbert, and Wyman, Bautzer, Kuchel & Silbert, a star-studded entertainment law firm whose messy dissolution was the model for the breakup of the firm on television’s “L.A. Law.”

The dissolutions are evidence of profound changes in the business of law--among them greater mobility of partners--that have been reshaping the legal landscape.

Several partners left Gendel Raskoff in recent months. On Tuesday, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius said Barry V. Freeman, another Gendel Raskoff partner, will join its Los Angeles office.

Last spring, Moore joined Gendel Raskoff partners Lawrence Bass and Hydee Feldstein and two associates in announcing a Los Angeles office of Murphy, Weir & Butler. The San Francisco-based firm also primarily represents debtors, creditors’ committees and other clients in bankruptcy and reorganization.

Bernard Shapiro, 72, a name partner and founder of Gendel Raskoff, will join the Murphy Weir office in an “of counsel” position. Moore said other Gendel Raskoff partners may also join.

In recent years, Gendel Raskoff’s cases included the Wickes Cos. and Merv Griffin’s Resorts International bankruptcies. In 1987, the firm handled the largest private bankruptcy ever--that of Apex Oil.