Lindsay Lohan tried to fire her long-time lawyer Shawn Holley yesterday. It was complicated – you can read my recap here. Basically, Lindsay owes Shawn more than $300,000, so of course LL thought this would be the perfect time to get a new lawyer, because she heard it through the crackvine that lawyers don’t care about being paid if they get fired by their clients. After TMZ was all “LL is so dumb for firing Shawn and hiring this other NY dude,” Lindsay was all “OMG, I didn’t mean to fire Shawn!” And then there was another interesting wrinkle – Shawn had been working with prosecutors on a plea deal that would have involved no jail time and six months of crack-lockdown rehab. I personally think that deal probably had more to do with Shawn’s dismissal, don’t you?
Anyway, all of this came just hours before Lindsay was due to make a plea at her hearing today. Lindsay wasn’t actually going to make the appearance in person, but Shawn was supposed to come to court and offer the plea on her behalf, only you know, Shawn got fired. But Shawn’s a pro so she showed up anyway:
Shawn Holley pulled off another miracle — pleading “not guilty” on Lindsay Lohan’s behalf today in court … despite Lindsay firing her yesterday.
When the judge asked if she was still representing Lindsay — Shawn replied, “At this point, yes” … but it’s unclear what that means since she got a letter saying she was fired yesterday. Lindsay has since hired another lawyer in New York, Mark Heller.
The judge was understandably confused — and Shawn said, “The representation issue will be nailed down.”
Consider it another bullet dodged by Lindsay — it was likely a bench warrant would have been issued for her arrest had Shawn not stepped in to help her.
A pretrial date has been scheduled for January 30th. Lindsay has been ordered to appear.
Ah, I miss the days when judges would actually order a bench warrant for Lindsay’s ass. Remember that? When was that? Like, 2010? Lindsay was partying at the Cannes Film Festival and she “lost” her passport so she couldn’t make it home in time for a court date and the judge was all “Bench warrant for the crackie!” Memories.
Anyway, it doesn’t sound like Shawn is too jazzed about this situation. Poor Shawn. Do you think she realized that she’s never going to see that $300,000?
Photos courtesy of WENN.
California celebrity justice is like doing rehab in a whiskey distillery.
LOL!
Perfect!
I am only surprised at how different Blohan’s face looks from the bottom photo, that was still her old face and she looked so much less cracked out, but that’s not saying much.
You can bet this sow was somewhere in front of a computer just laughing her head off. As much as she skates she should be on the Olympic team.
Yeah….gold medal winner in Crackery.
She and Dina could enter (and win) the pairs competition.
Synchronized snorting!
I don’t understand how the judge could take a plea from a woman who had been fired from her position as Lindsay’s lawyer.
I think it’s because she is counsel of record until she formally files with the court. I could be wrong but I think it’s something along those lines.
Thanks, that does make some sense.
The judge must approve any withdrawal by an attorney. The attorney can file for leave to withdraw in a formal motion or orally before the court. But if the client is absent and the judge cannot learn from the client what she wants then no court will act. Plus there seems to be no appearance entered as yet by any new attorney so the judge is not going to allow Lohan to be without representation. The NY lawyer may not even be licensed to practice in California and if not would have to file appropriate motions to be allowed to represent Lohan in this matter.
You also cannot withdraw if the withdrawal prejudices (hurts) your client. It doesn’t matter if you have been paid or not – criminal attorneys get stuck all the time and are often forced to do their job even without pay.
If the probation violations are minor or as a result of her recovery/relapses then it is not typical that a judge would throw someone in jail. Maybe eventually but most judges are very patient while someone is in recovery – they get many chances. The original offense she is on probation for is a minor offense.
By this point I would have asked the judge to terminate the probation as “unsuccessful” and end it. That “unsuccessful” on your record can hurt you if you have future cases. Most judges would have agreed.
Wow, thanks Katherine. I guess in some cases, it’s good that the lawyer can’t withdraw if it’s detrimental to the client, but in the case of 9 lives Lohan, it’d be nice to see some consequence.
@Katherine-exactly the same in my jurisdiction. Withdrawal is allowed only on motion and a showing of breakdown of the attorney/client relationship or termination. The case MUST be stayed for 28 days thereafter to allow new counsel, no exceptions. At this juncture in the proceeding, the judge would allow it, but with no motion pending, the court can’t act.
“I diz not doz it, yar honor!”
Not guilty? Pleaazzzzzz……..
PHEW! I was really worried she might actually have to pay for her crimes. Didn’t expect this at all! 🙁
More proof that the justice system is like a runaway train when it come to celebrities. Anyone else would have been in jail years ago.
I knew I recognized that name – that was Jon Gosselin’s lawyer
Lindsey has made a circus out the LA judicial system. What luck!
Luck has nothing to do with it. It’s who you know and who you blow. Simple. Has always been that way.
Then Lindsey must have blown a lot people cause she gets away with murder! her crack-teflon armor is impenetrable.
I’m starting to believe that those blind items might be true, and might be about The Cracken. There have been rumors for a while about a starlet whose mother videotaped her underage in compromising positions with powerful people.
Gee, that doesn’t sound at all like something White Oprah would do, now does it?
We already know what happens-Lohan will show up on the 30th and nothing will happen to her. It wouldn’t even surprise me if she gets Holley to officially represent her again. The free publicity Shawn Holley of getting from all of this is probably worth more to her than the 300K anyway-she always comes out looking good since she has been able to cut so many deals for her.
You can’t pay your bills with free publicity, though. And at this point, people already know that she’s LL’s lawyer. That’s appealing to a certain segment of the population and repulsive to the rest.
Holley is NOT going to be hurting for cash or unable to pay her bills. This publicity is definitely helping her career, and further, raising her rates. I would put money on it. LiHo is not her only client.
She also rep’d Gabriel Aubrey during that HB/OM mess.
Can someone please explain how you get a letter “on your way to court”
If no one walks anywhere in LA, then WTF?
Scanned and read on iphone or blackberry.
Throw the cracken in jail
That woman (Shawn Holley) must be a saint. I appreciate she is a lawyer but at a certain point even they must think: “F*ck this!”
300,000 is probably a half days work. Not to cut Lohan any slack, particularly when it comes to paying due but… If Shawn called Dina, LL, new lawyer and TMZ she more than likely earned those billable hours in the past 48.
Also,it’s a brilliant tactic to avoid 6month lockdown (ha) and today’s hearing and postpone everything else. It’s too smart for LL, I’m wondering if it’s a Holley ploy?
Is the crackie still in Londonz
I am not sure its smart. She is just postponing the inevitable. I agree with this article that Shawn had cut her deal and she didnt like the idea of going back to rehab and dismissed Shawn.
Well, smart is relative- firing her lawyer is a ploy she’s used before, as well as her lawyer trying to quit her, along with losing her passport, taking on a state counseling agency,and drug testers, missing her flight, forgetting to show up, preemptive rehab, and motions to dismiss…
The probation is years old. Had she bothered to attend anti-thievery classes, counseling and tox screens she’d have been out from under this one already. Apparently she’d rather keep paying lawyers and hiding in England every time she’s due in court. To that avail, switching lawyers, or plaguing the court with confusion over switching lawyers, will again postpone, delay and otherwise befuddle her hearings yet again. So, given that seems to be a massive m.o. from both Holley and Lohan, this accomplishes what they want. Shawn can blame “my client is an idiot”. Crackie can blame “unscrupulous NY lawyer”. NY lawyer gets ‘notoriety’ and can blame LL.
No 6 month lockdown. Stay in London. Postpone again when time comes.
Assuming your dumb ass was to chickenchit to just do the 3 hours of jailtime in the fist place. She always will postpone the inevitable.
I mean it’s a convoluted plan, which sounds like the Cracken, I’m just not sure she’s smart enough to put it together. I think, maybe just maybe Shawn put it together, at the last minute, when she realized Linds didn’t or wasn’t going to come back and cooperate with the deal Holley was cutting.
Geez, another “Boo.”
I was Boo until this post (not mine), but there are too many of us here…reverting to my name from TMZ. I hope it’s okay.
As for Lindsay, she may be sneaky, but she is not smart in any way that promotes the positive.
This is a slightly off topic question but can a lawyer dump you if you are being difficult or the lawyer knows you are going to loose
After 30+ years working for lawyers, I can answer this. Yes, they can. I have filed many a motion to withdraw as counsel (mostly for non-payment). A hearing is then held, and it’s up to the judge to decide if the lawyer can withdraw. Almost all the time, they grant the motion. Then the party is given a certain amount of time to come up with new representation, or an individual can represent him/herself.
Yes. But it has to be with permission of the court and not at a time when your withdrawal from representation will hurt your client – like on the eve of trial or an important hearing. Plus the judge may make you wait until there is substitute counsel.
In court appointed cases you also need to proffer some good cause to the judge for the withdrawal. She is throwing shade my way won’t cut it. She threatened to kill me MAY be good enough. Judges can be a bitch.
so i’m confused hearing again in two weeks? i don’t understand all this law stuff.
but if lohan skates free AGAIN just realize that w/in no time she’ll F***K it ALL UP again and before you can Happy Valentines Day she’ll be charged w/ yet ANOTHER &#^#&@(# crime right?
let’s just hope it doesn’t involve homicide…
It’s just like watching an interminable football game. They play for two seconds and then fart around for ten minutes discussing those two seconds.
Love this comment, so true!
Please don’t take something sacred and wonderful like football and compare it to something loathsome and scabby like Lilo.
LOVE this comment! Lol
So, where exactly is the Cracken? How come we haven’t seen her? I mean, she was tweeting up a name-dropping storm during the Golden Globes but no idea where it is.
Also, super fun thing my friends do. Take turns reading her tweets like it’s Masterpiece Theater. Awesome.
The mail has her in London meeting @maxthewanted parents. Good grief. Can you even imagine introducing this wreck to your parents?
His parents could be drunken scumbags that might like her.
Thanks Lem, I really have had no idea where she is.
And Gg: can you imagine having that walk in the door with your child?
Oh I have many thoughts…
I also tend to believe, that Lohan attempted to fire Holley. Especially if Holley was working on a plea, that sent Lohan to a locked down rehab.
Dina would not let that happen.
Lohan can’t keep “dates” for cash if she is on lock down.
In a genuine rehab.
Not Betty Ford or Promises.
But like that place in Minnesota. Where they don’t deal with crackhead shenanigans. Where Lohan would be cut off from everyone in her family, for her first month.
No… Dina is not about to let that happen. Where would her income… come from? If Lohan is not out there f*cking for dollars?
And I suspect Dina was the one behind this “firing” of the attorney, that kept her crack-baby out of prison. Not county jail. But the California prison system.
I hope Holley walks away from this whole mess. Let Lohan try to use that lawyer of questionable ethics from NY, for that California court case. It will not end well.
Because I don’t see her dodging prison anymore if Lohan lets that happen.
And I do suspect that Holley’s phones are constantly ringing. She probably has more work, than she can handle in LA.
She has been proven a lawyer that can get someone out of a “situation” that should send them to prison. But instead end up with probation.
I bet she will stay busy for the next decade. Without ever having to deal with Lohan again.
Good point – I figured Lindsay dumped her because she does not want or think she needs rehab, but I bet you’re right. If Lindsay goes away, Dina’s cash does too.
I want to make an observation.. Please tell me what anyone thinks? I can’t think of ANY other celeb that has gotten away with the things she has? This has been going on for several years, YEARS?
Two quotes come to mind, both out of the NYT Magazine this past Sunday (I’m a longtime subscriber). I forget who said what but anyway they went something like this:
‘with parents like that she never had a chance’ (I think this was the article’s author who said that)
‘for every Jodie Foster, there are 5 Lindsay Lohans’ (I think that was the director – ?)
Read between the lines and basically the conclusion is that former child stars with problems is nothing unusual and never has been anything unusual. Read Judy Garland’s bio; I mean, it’s all there…
The reason Lindsay’s troubles are so front and center all the time? Dina and Micheal selling out thier daughter to the tabloids for money. I mean, just the fact that we know thier names so well says it all. How many other former child stars’ parents names do we know that well? These two scumsuckers hijacked thier daughter’s fame, money and life a long time ago. And if there is ever a corpse, God forbid, they will undoubtably tear it apart squabbling over who gets to sell it to the highest bidder…
Charlie Sheen, Andy Dick, Jeremy London, hit n run chick, Halle Berry, January Jones, Lance Asshat, the one married to McSteamy. RDJ did for years, Marlon Brando’s son, O.J, Dreamy Pete, the cast of Different Strokes, Russell Crowe oh oh that guy from the band that beats his wife while trashing hotel rooms
Oh, I like this game.
Now I wonder if anyone else has as many mug shots? I need a new set of shot glasses!
I’ll be damned. Martin Sheen leads this list.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/galleries/2010/10/27/most-arrested.html#slide1
A lot of the people you listed (like January Jones) haven’t actually been arrested and jailed repeatedly. Getting in trouble once isn’t the same as multiple DUIs, theft, lying to police, hit and run, etc. Lindsey has around 6 mug shots! She is in very rare territory.
Martin Sheen gets arrested deliberately as a result of his “illegal” protest actions in furtherance of his beliefs in social justice.
Martin Sheen is also known for being the father of Certified Mess Charlie Sheen.
Michael Douglas is also a well-recognised name, when it comes to his addict-son.
The NY lawyer appears to be a dirtbag. I suspect he is trying to steal Lindsay as a client from Shawn.
(And why, dude? Why would you want that? You think the publicity is gonna be worth it? IT IS TO LAUGH. HAHA.)
Given how cracky Lindsay is, it probably wasn’t hard for Dirtbag to get Lindsay to sign something she didn’t (bother to) understand. And now he’s likely stalling on sending the second letter that will get Shawn back on board.
The crackroach has attracted another crackroach. (Stomp him hard, Shawn!)
Seriously, Shawn Holley should just cut her losses and leave.
What gets me is that we haven’t heard news of Lindsay firing Heller. I mean, if the other lawyer I just hired got me to sign a letter firing my other lawyer without realizing I was firing her, I’d fire him instantly. So I kind of doubt this, “accidental firing” story.
If you ask me, Heller convinced Lohan that somehow, he’d be able to get rid of her charges in both states much more quickly if she got rid of Shawn. But then when she found out about that plea deal Shawn was drawing up for her, she decided to pretend it was a fake firing.
But now? I wonder why she pled not guilty. Maybe Shawn decided “fuck it” after this mess. I wouldn’t be surprised if she let Lindsay crash and burn for this BS. I wouldn’t be surprised if the upcoming trials prove to be the most interesting of them all. After all this BS, I wouldn’t be surprised if Holley decides the Cracken is no longer worth giving her all, and let Lindsay go to jail. It’s not like it’ll hurt her reputation as an effective lawyer if she does since the fact that Lindsay has gotten so little jail time up to this point that it is nothing short of a miracle. If she lets Lohan crash and burn this time, she can just be like, “Look, there’s only so much any human could do. The fact that it took this long for her to gain any serious jail time is incredible.”
I hope that happens, because Lindsay doesn’t deserve a lawyer as good as Holley.
Thx Lem… I stand corrected. Maybe she will get what she deserves? It’s just enough of the drama.
Just posted a link above. Martin Sheen has been arrested 66 times!
I appreciate why Martin Sheen has been arrested so many times. He is willing to put himself on the line for the causes he believes in. He is a protestor who chooses civil disobedience to protest what he feels are unjust laws. I’ve known many people who are not celebrities who have done that as well, who have been arrested just as often and who also have not done hard time for those civil protests. IMHO, there is a big difference between exercising one’s right to peacefully demonstrate, and a repeat crackhead/prostitute who flagrantly and repeatedly violates the law solely for their own gain. Martin Sheen is a responsible citizen who has made strides to better his life and the lives of others. Lindsay Lohan, not so much.
Shawn Holley seems to be some sort of genius in getting Lindsay out of trouble. However, I then question her intelligence for taking such a client to begin with – did she ever think she’d see a dime of that money?
I suspect she has seen quite a lot of Lindsay’s money already. Lohan has been in legal trouble for years.
Whether Lindsay will ever be able to pay Shawn again is a bit of a delicate issue, however.
This child needs help. Is she still drinking?
This “child” is 26 years old. Infantilizing and making excuses for her has only caused her behavior to get worse. This woman needs to help herself.
***
Formerly “Boo”
@cool-love the new moniker, keep It!
Thank you! It’s from The Things They Carried, when the main character, a soldier in the Vietnam War, has to confront his own dark side and talks about recognizing in himself the “cool phosphorescent shimmer of evil.” Great book!
SCH will withdraw as counsel a day or two before the next court date….they will give Liho time to come up with new representation (another 30 days) Then new counsel will need time to prepare (another 30 days) and so on, and so on……….
Watch Liho running circles around the court system, it’s like watchin my fat*ss dog trying to reach his butt for an itch……..REDUNDANT!!!!
What is legal isn’t always what is moral. Letting Lindsay off over and over just leaves her out on the streets to wallow in sea jasper, “water”, and sex-for-hire. Sooner or later she’ll slap the wrong person or snatch the wrong person’s phone or ram the wrong person’s car and that will be the end of her. Period.
If Shawn and Dina want her to live they’d better let her do time, and not in rehab for the umpty-hundredth time!
What would Lindsay’s sentence be if convicted? If I recall Lindsay got 6 months in jail but only served 30-45 days because of overcrowding. Even if she got a year, she may serve just a couple of months. Eventhough it’s jail, most people would probably choose 2 months over 6 months of rehab. Especially if rehab can’t be done at one of those resort type places.
Actually, that is not entirely correct. I was going to list Cracken’s jail sentences vs. actual jail time served, but after verifying on Wikipedia, there is just not enough space in the comments to do that. Also, making sense out of it all is quite a challenge, too.
Here is a link instead – prepare to have your minds blown. Having it all written up like that, one after another, really opens your eyes to the travesty the celebrity justice system has become.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindsay_Lohan#2010.E2.80.93present:_Legal_issues.2C_Machete_and_television
I just want to see her off the street because eventually she’s going to hurt or kill someone. The courts should at least make it next to impossible for her to drive. I understand they’ve given up trying to “punish or rehabilitate” her because she’s not going to change. No one can be forced to stop being self-destructive.
But isn’t there some concern for public safety?! She’s a menace. She’s Typhoid Mary with a Porsche.
At the very least, I don’t know how she still has a driver’s license. After that gets revoked, I thought the court could impound your car. There are lots of people who keep driving while impaired—what usually happens to them?
What I dont understand is why is shawn working for her for free???