Max Shifrin: The Attorney, Husband of Sara Haines, and the Life He Keeps Beyond Television
Max Shifrin is a New York commercial litigation attorney and partner at BakerHostetler whose public profile is closely tied to his marriage to Sara Haines, the longtime television journalist and co-host of The View. Yet describing him simply as “Sara Haines’ husband” leaves out the more consequential part of his professional identity. Under his full professional name, Maximillian S. Shifrin, he handles complex commercial disputes, works on large-scale litigation and discovery matters, and has devoted part of his practice to appellate pro bono work.
Haines and Shifrin met through OkCupid in 2012 and married in the Bahamas in November 2014. They have since become parents to three children: Alec Richard, Sandra Grace and Caleb Joseph. As Haines has become increasingly candid about marriage, parenting and career pressures on television, Shifrin has occasionally entered the public conversation. He has nevertheless remained, professionally and personally, far less public-facing than his wife.
Quick Bio
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Maximillian S. Shifrin |
| Known As | Max Shifrin |
| Profession | Attorney, Commercial Litigation Partner |
| Current Firm | BakerHostetler |
| Practice Area | Complex Commercial Litigation |
| Education | University of Connecticut; Brooklyn Law School |
| Law School Graduation | 2010 |
| Wife | Sara Haines |
| Marriage Date | November 2014 |
| Wedding Location | Bahamas |
| Children | Alec Richard, Sandra Grace, Caleb Joseph |
| Known For | Legal career and being Sara Haines’ husband |
| Net Worth | Not publicly verified |
Who Is Max Shifrin?
The distinction between Shifrin’s public identity and actual career matters.
Entertainment coverage naturally introduces him through Haines because she is the nationally recognizable television figure. Shifrin, however, has built a separate career in litigation. BakerHostetler currently identifies him as a partner in its New York office, focusing on disputes involving sophisticated commercial matters.
His work has involved clients from industries including financial services, real estate, energy, hospitality, software, insurance and construction, as well as government bodies and bankruptcy trustees. According to his firm biography, he has participated in litigation at multiple stages, from pleadings and discovery through trial and appellate proceedings.
That professional record makes him somewhat unusual among people who become widely searched because of a celebrity marriage: his career is not an extension of his wife’s entertainment work.
His Career at BakerHostetler
Shifrin’s current professional biography places him firmly in complex commercial litigation.
BakerHostetler describes his role as helping clients manage business disputes both before and during lawsuits. His work can involve negotiating resolutions, developing litigation strategies, and representing parties when disputes advance through court proceedings.
The scale of some of that work is substantial.
His Role in the Madoff Liquidation Litigation
One of the most significant details in Shifrin’s professional biography is his connection to litigation arising from the collapse of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities.
BakerHostetler has served as counsel to the trustee overseeing the liquidation of the Madoff investment operation. The firm identifies Shifrin as the leader of its Discovery Management team on that broader representation.
His responsibilities include coordinating discovery strategy across hundreds of lawsuits and overseeing the management and production of extremely large volumes of electronic information.
That detail gives a much clearer picture of what Shifrin actually does than the generic description “lawyer.” Modern complex litigation can involve millions of documents, electronically stored communications, and overlapping claims across different proceedings. Managing discovery at that scale is partly legal advocacy and partly strategic information management.
BakerHostetler says Shifrin has also represented the trustee in discovery disputes connected with the litigation.
Pro Bono Legal Work
Commercial disputes are only one part of his practice.
His firm biography states that Shifrin dedicates substantial time to pro bono representation, particularly appellate matters involving people who otherwise might not have access to comparable legal resources.
He has represented indigent litigants in appeals and contributed to amicus briefs filed before federal appellate courts and the U.S. Supreme Court.
This detail matters because it shows a broader legal practice than the corporate-litigation label alone suggests.
Education and Legal Training
Shifrin attended the University of Connecticut, where he studied history and political science, before attending Brooklyn Law School. PEOPLE, citing his professional profile, reports that he graduated from Brooklyn Law School in 2010.
His LinkedIn profile also lists Brooklyn Law School from 2007 to 2010 and notes involvement with the Brooklyn Law Review and Moot Court Honor Society.
A precise, authoritative public biography of Shifrin’s childhood is much harder to establish. Many celebrity-profile websites publish supposed birth dates, hometown details, and family backgrounds, but these claims are frequently repeated without primary sourcing.
For that reason, details that cannot be traced to Shifrin, his employer, or reputable reporting should not be treated as established biography.
How Max Shifrin Met Sara Haines
The couple’s origin story is unusually well documented because Haines has described it herself.
While working at Today, Haines agreed to create an OkCupid profile for a television segment about online dating. Instead of deleting the profile after the segment, she decided to continue using it seriously.
Shifrin eventually found her profile.
Haines recalled in a 2017 Glamour essay that she had deliberately decided to invest time in dating rather than simply wait for an accidental romantic encounter. She described Shifrin as five years younger than her and said their relationship developed after he saw her OkCupid profile.
PEOPLE reports that Shifrin did not know who Haines was professionally when he encountered her online. The pair began dating in 2012.
That point has remained part of their public love story: the relationship began without Shifrin pursuing someone because of her television career.
Marriage in 2014
Haines and Shifrin married in the Bahamas in November 2014, approximately two years after they began dating.
Haines has since described marriage in terms far more pragmatic than the typical celebrity “love at first sight” narrative.
In an interview with Glamour, she rejected the idea that there is necessarily only one predestined romantic partner.
“There are thousands of The Ones. It’s The One you decide to commit to.”
Her point was not that the relationship lacked emotional closeness. In her view, long-term partnership depended on deliberate commitment rather than a cinematic moment of certainty.
That philosophy has become one of the more revealing details about their marriage.
Becoming Parents
Family life followed relatively quickly after the wedding.
Shifrin and Haines are parents of three children:
- Alec Richard, their eldest son
- Sandra Grace, their daughter
- Caleb Joseph, their younger son
By September 2026, PEOPLE reported their ages as 10, 8 and 7, respectively.
Haines has explained publicly that the couple’s timetable for having children was affected by their age difference. She married at 37 and has described feeling significant pressure around fertility, while Shifrin, who is five years younger, initially imagined a less accelerated path toward marriage and children.
Rather than presenting their early marriage as friction-free, Haines has acknowledged that the compressed timeline created disagreements.
That candor provides a more realistic picture of their relationship than simply listing wedding and birth dates. They entered marriage with different expectations about timing and then had to adapt those expectations to circumstances.
Max Shifrin and Sara Haines as Parents
Most detailed public commentary about their household comes from Haines, not Shifrin.
In September 2026, Haines spoke to PEOPLE about how her parenting approach had evolved as Alec, Sandra and Caleb grew older. The interview confirmed that she and Shifrin continue raising their three children together while she maintains her demanding television schedule.
Earlier interviews similarly portrayed the household as busy rather than carefully polished for public consumption.
That distinction matters. Haines regularly discusses parenting because candid personal commentary is part of her television persona. Shifrin has not built a comparable public brand around family life.
Consequently, information about the children should be limited to what the parents themselves have made public rather than expanded through speculation.
The Private Partner of a Very Public Television Personality
Shifrin and Haines have different relationships with public attention.
Haines’ profession requires visibility. She discusses current events, relationships, parenting, and personal experiences before a national audience.
Shifrin works in a profession where professional credibility generally depends on clients, litigation results, court proceedings, and legal expertise rather than public recognition.
That creates an interesting imbalance in how the couple is perceived.
A search for Max Shifrin often produces articles centered on whom he married. His employer’s biography, by contrast, describes a lawyer coordinating high-volume litigation, managing discovery strategy, and handling commercial disputes.
Both descriptions are accurate, but they refer to very different parts of the same life.
A Difficult Family Moment in 2026
One of the most personal recent references to Shifrin came in September 2026.
Haines revealed on The View that Shifrin’s father had died after receiving hospice care. She said Shifrin had been away from their household while spending time with his father and had returned to Haines and their children afterward.
Haines described her father-in-law as Shifrin’s “North Star” and said the family supported her husband after the loss.
Because the disclosure concerned a private family bereavement, the responsible boundary is narrow: Haines publicly confirmed the death and its significance to her husband, but broader assumptions about Shifrin’s grief or personal state would go beyond what has been disclosed.
Max Shifrin’s Net Worth
Verified financial data has not been publicly disclosed.
Various entertainment and biography sites assign estimated net-worth figures to Shifrin, but no authoritative public documentation establishes his personal wealth.
His status as a partner at a major U.S. law firm indicates a successful legal career, but professional title alone cannot establish personal net worth. Partner compensation can vary substantially depending on firm structure, seniority, performance, ownership arrangements, taxes, and private assets.
For that reason, publishing a precise figure as fact would be misleading.
Is Max Shifrin Famous in His Own Right?
Shifrin is better described as a prominent professional with a public connection to a television personality than as a conventional celebrity.
His name reaches entertainment audiences because of Sara Haines, but his independent professional credentials are substantial. BakerHostetler’s current biography shows a lawyer trusted with complex commercial disputes, nationwide litigation strategy, and sophisticated discovery responsibilities.
The distinction explains why relatively little is known about him compared with spouses who work in entertainment themselves.
Shifrin has a public professional record, but not an extensively documented celebrity persona.
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(FAQs)
Who is Max Shifrin?
Max Shifrin, professionally listed as Maximillian S. Shifrin, is a New York attorney and partner at BakerHostetler. He specializes in commercial litigation and is widely known outside the legal profession as the husband of television journalist Sara Haines.
What does Max Shifrin do for a living?
He is a commercial litigation attorney. His work includes complex business disputes, litigation strategy, discovery proceedings, and appellate matters. He also leads a Discovery Management team connected with BakerHostetler’s representation of the trustee in the Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities liquidation.
How did Max Shifrin meet Sara Haines?
They met through OkCupid. Haines created an online dating profile for a television segment but decided to keep using it afterward. Shifrin found her profile, and they began dating in 2012.
When did Max Shifrin and Sara Haines get married?
They married in November 2014 in the Bahamas.
How many children do Max Shifrin and Sara Haines have?
They have three children: Alec Richard, Sandra Grace, and Caleb Joseph. PEOPLE reported in September 2026 that the children were 10, 8, and 7, respectively.
Where did Max Shifrin go to law school?
He attended Brooklyn Law School and graduated in 2010. Before law school, he studied history and political science at the University of Connecticut.
Is Max Shifrin still married to Sara Haines?
Yes. Recent 2026 reporting continues to identify Haines and Shifrin as married and raising their three children together.
What is Max Shifrin’s net worth?
No reliable, independently verified figure has been publicly disclosed. Online estimates should therefore be treated as speculative rather than established financial information.
Is Max Shifrin a celebrity?
His public recognition largely comes from his marriage to Sara Haines. Professionally, he is an attorney rather than an entertainer or media personality, with his official biography centered on commercial litigation and pro bono appellate work.
