Attorney Stuart Liner is back in business, having joined as managing partner of the now-named Liner Freedman Taitelman + Cooley LLP. Liner joined about 18 months after retiring from global firm DLA Piper, to whom he’d sold his prior firm, in 2022. The founders of Liner Freedman Taitelman + Cooley hailed the hire as a coup, calling Liner a “proven commodity” in the legal world.

Built as an entertainment-focused firm, Liner Freedman Taitelman + Cooley frequently focuses on reputational defense for its clients. Its past cases include representing the Michael Jackson Estate against HBO for its documentary “Finding Neverland,” negotiating the exit of host Chris Harrison from the series “The Bachelor” following his handling of race-related controversy on the show and representing TV news personalities Tucker Carlson, Chris Cuomo and Don Lemon after they were fired from their networks.

Liner’s hire comes as the firm seeks to diversify its revenue stream, co-founder Bryan Freedman said, and tap into non-legal sources of income via its clients. As an example, Freedman said he helped broker the recent interview between Cuomo, who is now with NewsNation, and Carlson, who runs a self-produced talk show.

“We not only represent them for purposes of litigation, but we stay with them and help them build their careers and plan what happens after,” he said. “We try to cross-collateralize our client relationships together so they can build things in the sports-news-entertainment world in order to create value for them in the post-litigation world.”

Liner, who in 2017 sold his 75-attorney firm Liner LLP to DLA Piper, has made investments in real estate and media since retiring and said he initially didn’t plan to return to law – until this firm came calling.

“Their market position, willingness to take risk by investing with and for clients, and their leadership in brand and reputation promotion and protection creates value levers that I am really excited to help maximize,” he said.