- Ellyn Garofalo has advised actors Alyssa Milano and Minnie Driver
- She reunites with Stuart Liner, who leads Los Angeles boutique
Ellyn Garofalo, a Southern California lawyer known for representing celebrities, has joined a boutique litigation firm whose clients include reality television stars.
Garofalo is now a partner at Liner Freedman Taitelman Cooley, the Los Angeles firm said Tuesday. She joined the firm after less than three years in the L.A. office of mid-size firm Carlton Fields.
Garofalo, who will focus on litigation at Liner Freedman, has represented actors Alyssa Milano and Minnie Driver in court fights. She also defended Sandeep Kapoor, Anna Nicole Smith’s physician, who was charged with over prescribing medication to Smith.
She rejoins Stuart Liner, managing partner of Liner Freedman, with whom Garofalo previously worked at Liner LLP. Garofalo was a partner at Liner LLP for 15 years before the firm was acquired by DLA Piper in 2017.
“He asked me to come back and rejoin him, so that’s what precipitated the move,” Garofalo said. “I have a significant amount of trial experience, which I think is something that they know will be very valuable to this firm,” Garofalo said.
Her current portfolio is defense heavy but she expects to work on more plaintiff-side matters at Liner. All of her active matters have transferred with her to Liner.
The firm’s small size and mix of cases—it takes matters on hourly rates and contingency fee arrangements—were also selling points, she said.
“There’s a lot more flexibility at a smaller firm, fewer conflicts, and more flexibility in the kinds of casing that you can take,” Garofalo said.
The boutique’s lawyers have represented former Real Housewife of New York Bethenny Frankel in a battle against NBC and Bravo over alleged exploitation.
Garofalo leaves Carlton Fields some six months after being named managing shareholder of its Los Angeles office. She previously worked at Venable LLP.
To contact the reporter on this story: Tatyana Monnay at tmonnay@bloombergindustry.com
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Chris Opfer at copfer@bloombergindustry.com; John Hughes at jhughes@bloombergindustry.com; Alessandra Rafferty at arafferty@bloombergindustry.com
