Lincoln Bandlow, who has represented a pornography production company in more than 2,000 copyright infringement lawsuits, has left Fox Rothschild, the law firm where he had been a partner since 2015.

Bandlow's work representing Strike 3 Holdings, which makes porn films under the brands “Tushy,” “Vixen” and “Blacked,” has come under increased scrutiny from judges around the country. The company's file-and-settle strategy has led at least one judge to label it a “copyright troll,” and also led to sanctions against Bandlow for failing to meet court deadlines. At the same time, Bandlow continues to battle a challenge involving the evidence Strike 3's lawsuits rely upon.

Los Angeles-based Bandlow has opened up his own law firm, The Law Offices of Lincoln Bandlow, which is the counsel of record listed for nearly 40 Strike 3 cases, according to a search of federal court dockets on legal analytics site Lex Machina.

Bandlow did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but he has defended the lawsuits against claims of copyright trolling in the past.

“It's good content, and a quality company that pays its employees well,” Bandlow said in a previous interview with ALM.

Fox Rothschild lawyers who worked alongside Bandlow on Strike 3 have filed motions in many dockets requesting to withdraw as counsel. A spokeswoman for Philadelphia-based Fox Rothschild said the firm had no comment on Bandlow's departure or on whether it had been uncomfortable having a partner involved with the litigation.

U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth wrote in a November opinion that Strike 3 Holdings' cases were “a high-tech legal shakedown” seeking to “treat this court not as a citadel of justice, but as an ATM.”

Bandlow was sanctioned $750 in February by a U.S. magistrate judge who chastised the lawyer for missing a number of court deadlines. In an effort to avoid those sanctions, Bandlow cited a temporary lack of resources at Fox Rothschild, saying staffing shortages during the Christmas holiday season were to blame.

Bandlow was also ordered to pay opposing counsel's fees amounting to $700 by U.S. District Judge Thomas Zilly after fighting efforts to depose Greg Lansky, a co-owner and the public face of Strike 3 who files a declaration in each case describing damage done to his business by internet pirating.

The defense in that case won another ruling on Friday when Zilly ordered that Strike 3 must produce the underlying data that shows U.S. residents have illegally downloaded the company's videos. Zilly said Strike 3 also must hand over some form of evidence to prove its claims that the mass pirating of its content is bedeviling the company's finances.

In a separate case involving pornography and mass copyright litigation, Minnesota lawyer Paul Hansmeier is set to be sentenced in June after he pleaded guilty to federal fraud charges.

Hansmeier had been behind Prenda Law, which prosecutors say filmed its own pornography movies and uploaded them to the internet before tracking and suing users who downloaded the films. This alleged so-called “honey-potting” scheme has federal prosecutors seeking a more than 12-year prison sentence for Hansmeier.

“Hansmeier was greedy, arrogant, devious, mendacious, and consistently positioned other people to be damaged by his conduct, even as he enjoyed the proceeds of the scheme he orchestrated,” federal prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum last month.

Individuals who think they may have made payments as a result of Hansmeier's scam are encouraged by the U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota to file claims for restitution.

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