Justin Fairfax, Lt. Gov of Virginia.

Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, who stepped down from a partnership at Morrison & Foerster amid allegations of sexual misconduct by multiple women, is appealing a ruling denying his defamation claims against CBS, and he's shuffled his legal team in the process.

A Virginia federal court judge in January shot down Fairfax's $400 million lawsuit alleging the network didn't investigate the truth of two women's claims before broadcasting interviews with them on "CBS This Morning." Earlier this month, for his appeal in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, he swapped out a former Baker Botts partner, D.C.-based defense lawyer Sara Kropf, for an Alexandria, Virginia-based copyright attorney.

According to spokeswoman Lauren Burke, Fairfax still believes that CBS aired false accusations that weren't properly investigated.

"CBS has not at any point said, 'We stand behind our reporting,'" Burke said Wednesday. "When the case was dismissed, they went silent. The fact that they don't stand by their reporting is glaring."

After relying on Kropf of Kropf Moseley, along with Jane Reynolds and Kiah Spinks in Virginia, for the initial phase of the defamation suit, Fairfax launched his appeal in March solely represented by Kropf, who spent 10 years at Baker Botts and who handles a range of criminal and civil defense matters for companies and white-collar clients.

But Kropf filed to withdraw from the case in April, and earlier this month, the appeals court gave the go-ahead to Todd Pilot, managing member of the Trademark Institute, to replace her. Burke said that Fairfax will likely add a specialist in Fourth Circuit appeals to the case as it moves forward.

Neither Kropf nor Pilot responded to requests for comment.

Fairfax's initial lawsuit accused the television network of smearing his name and helping to cost him his partnership at Morrison & Foerster and also asserted that a senior in-house CBS lawyer, whom he describes as a "friend," knew the network was airing allegedly false sexual assault claims against him.

Apart from the defamation case, Fairfax has strongly denied all claims of sexual misconduct. Robbins, Russell, Englert, Orseck, Untereiner & Sauber partner Barry Pollack, who is representing Fairfax in response to the claims made by accusers Meredith Watson and Vanessa Tyson, said Wednesday that his client has passed a polygraph examination with respect to both claims and that law enforcement has not pursued either one.

But Watson and Tyson have remained steadfast since first detailing their allegations in early 2019. Tyson turned to D.C. attorney Debra Katz, who represented Christine Blasey Ford, when she went public, while Watson hired Nancy Erika Smith of New Jersey's Smith Mullin.

Fairfax, a Democrat, said last year that he intends to make a run for the governorship next year, when current Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam's term expires.