SAN FRANCISCO — Richard Odgers, a longtime Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman litigator, general counsel and legal aid advocate, died Sunday after a long illness. He was 77.
Odgers joined Pillsbury in 1961 and left in 1987 to head the legal department of Pacific Telesis Group, rejoining the firm 11 years later. In an email sent to Pillsbury employees, James Rishwain Jr., the Los Angeles-based firm chairman and chief executive officer, praised Odgers for his devotion to pro bono and diversity efforts, and for his role in the California State Bar’s Justice Gap Fund. The fund, started in 2006, allowed attorneys to contribute to free legal aid services through their annual bar dues.
