We prepared a series of aromatic liquid crystals (LCs) based on wholly aromatic ester units with the reactive end group methyl maleimide by means of melt condensation method, and the resulting LCs were thermally crosslinked to produce liquid crystalline thermoset (LCT) films. The synthesized LCs and LCTs were characterized with Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, wide angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), thermomechanical analysis (TMA), and polarizing optical microscopy (POM) with a hot stage. The glass transition temperature ($T_g$) and coefficient of thermal expansion are strongly affected by the mesogen units in their main chain structures. The $p$-substituted biphenyl LC was found to have the highest thermal property value.