Los Angeles-based entertainment litigator Douglas Mirell has quit the firm he co-founded in 2013 to join Greenberg Glusker Fields Claman & Machtinger as a partner.

Mirell's decision to take his practice Greenberg Glusker, which officially announced his hire earlier this week, came as a result of growing concerns he had about his colleague Charles Harder's representation of President Donald Trump and members of his family.

Harder's aggressive approach against media outlets on behalf of wealthy celebrities and Trump conflicted with Mirell's pledge to protect the First Amendment, as well as the interests of many of his media clients, Mirell said.

Mirell left Loeb & Loeb five years ago to form Harder Mirell & Abrams in Century City with Harder and Jeffrey Abrams. Initially, the focus of the firm was to represent A-list clients in right-of-publicity cases, which typically involves the use of celebrity names and likenesses that were used in advertising without their permission, Mirell said.

But the firm had success in defending former professional wrestler Hulk Hogan in an invasion of privacy suit against Gawker Media Group that eventually drove the online news company into bankruptcy following a $140 million jury verdict. Harder, who rose to national prominence as a result of the case, soon found himself in demand to represent clients taking on media companies over allegedly inaccurate coverage. Those clients included the president himself, his wife Melania Trump, disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein and former Amazon Studios CEO Roy Price.

“That evolution made my practice more difficult and created issues for clients that I have historically represented,” said Mirell, who spent 32 years at Loeb & Loeb before starting Harder Mirell & Abrams, which has now rebranded itself as Harder LLP.

Mirell left the firm he helped start on Feb. 5 for Greenberg Glusker, where he will continue his First Amendment-focused litigation practice in areas that include invasion of privacy and defamation claims, publicity rights disputes and other intellectual property and civil rights matters. Mirell has been representing the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists in a case that would limit online movie website IMDb.com's ability to publish the ages of actors and other individuals in Hollywood.

“Greenberg Glusker provides the kind of platform that meets my needs and the needs of my clients, particularly in the entertainment litigation arena,” he said.

Mirell said he was drawn to Greenberg Glusker's involvement in the American Civil Liberties Union community, where he served on the board of directors for both the ACLU and ACLU Foundation of Southern California. He also looks forward to participating in the Women in Film initiative, an effort supported by Greenberg Glusker (as well as several other firms) that provides pro bono legal service to aid entertainment professionals who have encountered sexual harassment or any other kind of mistreatment in the past.

In a statement responding to Mirell's exit, Harder said his firm will likely hire someone to fill the role left by its former namesake. While the name of the firm has changed, with a new internet domain name to match, Harder LLP remains home to Abrams and eight other lawyers.

“Throughout his five years at the firm, Doug was a zealous advocate for people with disputes against major media companies, including matters adverse to [the] Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Bloomberg, Buzzfeed, Daily Mail, New York Post, New York magazine, Gawker, Univision, Techdirt and others,” Harder said. “Doug assisted on matters representing President Donald Trump and his family members, and Fox News chairman Roger Ailes, among others. We wish Doug well in his future endeavors.”

Greenberg Glusker managing partner Bob Baradaran said the reason for Mirell's split with Harder is “immaterial” to his firm.

“The reason we want Doug to join us is because he is best in his field, as well as one who lives the values of our firm by representing clients who uphold First Amendment values and who work to ensure equal access to justice,” Baradaran said. “We are currently in growth mode at the firm. Some of the areas we are focusing are entertainment, real estate and corporate. His litigation and entertainment background is consistent with the area we want to grow.”

Greenberg Glusker, founded in 1959, has about 100 lawyers based in its sole office in Los Angeles. The firm is home to several high-profile entertainment litigators, including name partner Bertram Fields, who reportedly dropped Weinstein's film studio as a client late last year over unpaid legal bills, as well as Pierce O'Donnell, who joined the firm in 2014.

Last summer Greenberg Glusker also brought on a team of lawyers from Stroock & Stroock & Lavan led by partner Schuyler “Sky” Moore for its entertainment practice.