Pittsburgh-based Thorp Reed & Armstrong has retooled its management structure, relieving its managing partner of many of his administrative duties.

Managing partner Jeffrey J. Conn told The Legal Intelligencer this week that the firm has asked executive director William R. Shipley to step down after more than six years and that Douglas E. Gilbert, who served as the firm’s managing partner from 1995 to 2007, has been named partner-in-charge of administration and operations.