The law firm founded by two-time U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr is expanding in a move to America’s main street.
Torridon Law, which has served as a landing spot for a cache of former Trump administration officials, including former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and former White House Counsel Pat Cipollone, is taking a 36K SF sublease at 1201 Pennsylvania Ave. NW.
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The D.C.-based firm’s lease was revealed in three different third-quarter market reports. Lincoln Property Co.’s report noted that the sublease was from law firm Bass, Berry & Sims. A spokesperson for that firm told Bisnow that Torridon is taking its entire space.
Torridon's move represents a 66% expansion from its current 22K SF home on the other side of the White House.
Law firms have historically been a key driver of leasing volume in the District, but that trend has accelerated in the years since the pandemic, as the largest law firms seek to upgrade their space amid rising revenues and fierce competition for talent.
The reasons for Torridon's move weren't immediately clear. Torridon didn't respond to a request for comment.
The firm subleases the top floor at 801 17th St. NW, which delivered in 2009 and is owned by Morgan Stanley’s Prime Property Fund. Torridon inked that lease in the third quarter of 2024, according to market reports.
1201 Penn, which totals 445K SF, is owned by Sentinel Real Estate Corp.
Sentinel completed a $15M repositioning of the property in 2017 after losing its anchor law firm, Covington & Burling, a few years prior. The office building also houses the ground-floor restaurant Elephant & Castle, which looks out to Pennsylvania Avenue. Its office tenants include Miles & Stockbridge, Duke University, the National Endowment for Democracy and the American Academy of Dermatology Association, according to their websites.
Sentinel and Morgan Stanley did not respond to requests for comment.
Barr served as U.S. attorney general from 1991 to 1993 under President George H.W. Bush, and then again from 2019 to 2020 under the first Trump administration. He founded Torridon in 2022. The firm has since been rapidly hiring ex-government officials, including Pompeo in the summer of 2025 and two former Republican Virginia attorneys general this February.
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