Britney Spears can pick her own lawyer, judge rules

A Los Angeles County probate judge on Wednesday OK'd the hiring of a shareholder at Greenberg Traurig LLP to represent Britney Spears and in doing so agreed the pop star could pick her own lawyer even though she remains under a conservatorship.

The new attorney, Mathew S. Rosengart, wasted no time in calling on Spears' father to honor his daughter's wishes to resign as executor of the conservatorship.

"If he loves his daughter, it's time to step down and move on," Rosengart said.

Rosengart's appointment came after several civil rights groups filed an amicus curiae brief calling for the singer's right to pick her own lawyer.

Spears' court-appointed lawyer, Samuel D. Ingham III, resigned after she gave searing testimony on June 23 about the abuses she said she has suffered during 13 years under a conservatorship, including not being allowed to get pregnant and being forced to perform. She repeatedly told Superior Court Judge Brenda Penny that she wanted her father, James P. Spears, removed as executor.

Via telephone, Spears addressed the court again at Wednesday's hearing to say that she believes her father ruined her life. She called the conservatorship "fucking cruelty," and said that she plans to press criminal charges against her father.

A lawyer for James Spears called Britney Spears' claims incorrect and said that it is inappropriate to ask her father to step down as conservator.

At Wednesday's hearing, Penny also approved the resignation of the Bessemer Trust, which has managed Spears' estimated $60 million fortune under the conservatorship. The judge must now decide whether Britney Spears' father should become the sole conservator over her estate.

Rosengart said it is clear that the conservatorship arrangement is not working and pointed out that there appear to be numerous people ready to take over responsibility. Rosengart asked if it is really in Britney Spears' best interest to have her father represent her.

There has also been infighting between Spears' personal conservator, Jodi Montgomery, and James Spears. Montgomery asked the estate for $50,000 to pay for private security, following increased death threats after she joined as a conservator. James Spears objected, saying that the costs are excessive.

A lawyer for Britney Spears' sister, Lynn Spears, said about the proceedings, "This is lawyers gone wild," calling it shameful that two conservators are attacking each other.

Another hearing is set for September.