Comedian Bill Cosby has hired a new local lawyer to represent him as his retrial on sexual assault charges nears.

Lane Vines of Berger & Montague in Philadelphia has joined the case, formally entering his appearance Feb. 1. According to his profile on Berger & Montague's website, Vines' practice focuses on consumer class actions and securities litigation.

Vines did not return a call seeking comment on Friday.

Previous local counsel Samuel Silver of Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis filed a motion for leave to withdraw from the case Jan. 26. In the motion, which doesn't state a reason for the withdrawal bid, he noted that Cosby's remaining lawyers, Tom Mesereau, Kathleen Bliss, Jason Hicks and Becky James, would need to find a new Pennsylvania lawyer to sponsor their pro hac vice admission.

Cosby's trial is scheduled to begin April 2. He is charged with aggravated indecent assault for allegedly drugging, then sexually assaulting Andrea Constand in 2004.

According to a pretrial motion from Cosby, prosecutors have admitted that they interviewed a former co-worker of Constand's, Marguerite Jackson, in 2003 or 2004. Jackson allegedly told prosecutors that Constand told her she was not sexually assaulted, but that she could make the accusation, file charges and get money.

“This evidence is obviously devastating to the credibility of the one and only witness who testified that Mr. Cosby had committed the sexual assault,” the defense motion said.

Cosby's motion also alleged that prosecutors allowed Constand to testify falsely that she did not know Jackson.

Lawyers for Cosby filed a motion to admit testimony from Jackson that included an affidavit from Jackson saying she and Constand were on a work trip when they discussed another prominent person facing sexual assault allegations. Constand first said she had also been assaulted before changing her story, the affidavit said, but when Jackson pressed her as to whether the assault really happened, Constand allegedly responded, “No, it didn't but I could say it did.”

The defense also filed a motion to exclude testimony from Patrice Sewell, the mother of another woman who has accused Cosby of sexually assaulting her. Sewell testified at the first trial along with her daughter, Kelley Johnson, who was the only woman permitted to testify as a prior bad acts witness.

Cosby's lawyers have moved to incorporate pretrial motions from the first trial as well, and oppositions to prosecutors' motions. Those include a motion to suppress contents of Cosby's deposition testimony from the civil litigation between him and Constand. But they have not asked for a change of venire, which was granted in the first trial.