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Bill Cosby Hires New Lawyers -- Why Didn't He Call You?

By George Khoury, Esq. on August 24, 2017 | Last updated on March 21, 2019

When it comes to high profile cases, right now, there may not be a higher profile celebrity case than the Bill Cosby criminal retrial. Although the retrial won't be until next year, reports that Cosby has retained new attorneys have surfaced.

Cosby selected attorney Tom Mesereau to lead his new team. Mesereau is most notably known for successfully defending Michael Jackson in the 2005 child molestation trial, as well as representing other celebrities including Mike Tyson and Suge Knight. Apart from his notorious clientele, he's easily remembered for his distinctive and bold hair.

The other lawyers on the team are Sam Silver, who previously represented Cosby in civil court, and Kathleen Bliss, a former big law partner. Now, you might be wondering: Why don't I ever get calls from celebrity clients? If so, here are some tips:

How to Get a Celebrity Client

Being a celebrity lawyer doesn't require anything other than being a lawyer and landing a celebrity client. You don't even need to change your area of practice to cater to celebrities. If you don't have the correct avenues set up to get normal clients, you shouldn't expect to get celebrity ones. Unfortunately, unless you're connected, or have previously represented celebrities, it's unlikely (not impossible) that a celebrity will be going through your normal client intake.

In order to land a celebrity client without connections, you need to think like a celebrity and probably get a little lucky too. You need to advertise in the publications and places they, and their "peoples," are going to see, both in print and online -- and especially on mobile.

You need to present an image that will inspire a celebrity's confidence. You need to be able to provide celebrity level "private," "exclusive," and/or "concierge" legal services. And most of all, you and your staff are going to need to be able to keep it together and not act like a bunch of enamored fans. Your staff should be trained to hand off a celebrity call immediately to the highest level attorney at the firm, period, regardless of availability.

The Caveat: Results Matter Big Time

For high profile clients, all the fancy things really don't amount to a hill of beans compared to your past results. Defending or prosecuting non-celebrity high profile cases, such as serious crimes, or public interest issues, like civil rights violations, and winning, can often gain attorneys serious public notoriety of their own.

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