Charles J. Harder

The $130 million verdict Harder won for former professional wrestler Hulk Hogan against the gossip website company Gawker Inc. made editors tremble and Harder’s phone jingle.

“I think it’s gotten a lot of news, and so as a result of that, people have seen it and called me when they have a problem with a media company,” Harder said. “I’ve had defamation cases and privacy cases going back 20 years, but it’s accelerated a lot in the last year.”

Most prominent among his new clientele was first lady Melania Trump, who sued the U.K. tabloid Daily Mail for defamation over an August 2016 story that raised purportedly “troubling questions” about Trump’s past. Trump and the tabloid settled out of court in April, and while the terms were undisclosed, the Daily Mail issued an apology retracting the story and said it would pay Trump “damages and costs.” Trump v. Webster Griffin Tarpley et al., V424492, (Montgomery Cir. Ct. (Md.), filed Sept. 1, 2016).

Asked how Trump came to hire him, Harder answered simply, “She called me.”

“I think the theme here is that media companies can’t make false statements about people in a reckless way, and that’s what happened,” Harder said.

The influx of business is driving an expansion of his firm, Harder said. Harder Mirell & Abrams LLP opened a New York office a few months ago, and its Los Angeles office has seen a steady headcount increase. Though the firm is growing, Harder said it’s keeping its practice focused on the sort of representation it’s known for.

“We live in an era where someone can spend 40 years building a business and a career and it can go away very quickly from the spread of false statements about them,” Harder said. “So we have to be very protective and vigilant for our clients.”

— Steven Crighton