Britney Spears’s lawyer resigns, will leave once Britney has another lawyer

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In her testimony in her conservatorship case, Britney Spears mentioned that she wasn’t even aware that she could petition to have the conservatorship removed. Britney said that her court-appointed lawyer, Sam Ingham, hadn’t informed her that she could do that and told her “I can’t let the public know anything they did to me. He told me I should keep it to myself.” Ingham has not filed to have Britney’s conservatorship terminated and legal experts have said that if he did not inform his client of her right to terminate that it was negligent. Ingham has now resigned Britney’s lawyer. While some may consider this a positive development for Britney, it may delay her case as I’ll get to in a moment. Here’s more, from US Weekly. Britney’s longterm manager, Larry Rudolph, has also resigned. The co-conservator of her estate, Bessemer Trust, is leaving as well while the conservator of her person, Jodi Montgomery, plans to stay on.

Britney Spears‘ court-appointed attorney, Samuel Ingham III, is stepping down less than one month after the 39-year-old pop star’s emotional conservatorship hearing, Us Weekly can confirm.

The California-based attorney filed a resignation request with the court on Tuesday, July 6, according to documents obtained by Us. The filing states that Ingham will step back from his role once the judge finds Spears a new court-appointed counsel.

Loeb & Loeb LLP, which is a secondary firm that was brought in to work with Ingham in October 2020, is also resigning. The private firm’s decision to resign from the conservatorship also will take effect once new counsel is approved by the judge.

Loeb & Loeb LLP, which is a secondary firm that was brought in to work with Ingham in October 2020, is also resigning. The private firm’s decision to resign from the conservatorship also will take effect once new counsel is approved by the judge.

[From US Magazine]

US Magazine quotes an expert who says that it’s possible there could be a hearing to determine whether Britney is competent enough to hire her own counsel. I really hope that happens for her and that she gets the right to hire someone representing her interests. This comes right after The New Yorker published Ronan Farrow and Jia Tolentino’s explosive report on Britney’s conservatorship. That piece details how quickly the conservatorship was established when Britney was going through a crisis as she was losing custody of her children. Britney was being controlled by other men in her orbit, and then her father, Jamie, took over legally. The way Farrow explains it, Jamie emotionally abused Britney while controlling her finances and access to her children. Britney went to great lengths to try to get a cell phone, to attempt to get her own lawyer, and to try to get the word out about what was happening to her. Everyone she befriended and asked for help, including a housekeeper and a photographer, were found out and fired by the team of people controlling her.

I asked my friend Lisa for a quote about this. She’s a cohost of the Eat, Pray, Britney podcast and I spoke to her on episode #82 of our podcast. Lisa thinks that Ingham’s resignation may delay Britney’s case. She said “The scary thing is, Britney has no legal right to pick her own attorney and it’s unclear how she would get ahold of a new lawyer even if she could pick because they are restricting her interactions with people and her phone and internet use.

One thing Farrow covered that struck me is the issue of conservatorships becoming a self-fulfilling loop that’s impossible to escape. Everything Britney does is seen under that lens. Farrow quotes a disability rights advocate, Jonathan Martinis, who says that people are screwed under conservatorships, basically, and that the burden of proof is incredibly high. Martinis detailed something that sounds quite similar to a study I learned about in psychology class, the Rosenhan experiment. He said “If a conservatee functions well under conservatorship, it can be framed as proof of the arrangement’s necessity; if a conservatee struggles under conservatorship, the same conclusion can be drawn. And if a conservatee gets out, and stumbles into crisis or manipulation—a likelihood increased by time spent formally disempowered—this, too, might reinforce the argument for their prior legal restraints.” Britney had a residency in Vegas for four years. What more can she do to earn her freedom, when she hasn’t been able to go public with her story for 13 years?

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photos via Instagram

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40 Responses to “Britney Spears’s lawyer resigns, will leave once Britney has another lawyer”

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  1. Lauren says:

    I saw a story on deuxmoi stating that all these people jumping ships has to do with the Netflix docu which is almost ready (trailer will drop soon according to the post) and that it will be scalding for all those involved and that while the docu is not the cause it is the culmination. Whatever it is I hope for Britney’s sake that it ends up going well for her. No one should have to go through what she has.

    • I have been involved in two conservancy setups within my family and neither of them failed to include the voice and independent legal and medical counsel of the conservee. Both conservatorship s took over a year to be established; certainly not the 10 minutes in a courtroom the New Yorker article indicates happened in Britney’s situation. Something seriously stinks here in my opinion. Whether Britney stays in a full or partial conservancy or not, she deserves a voice and independent legal and medical representation to make sure her voice is heard. I also think the court needs to take a very hard look at her father and the financial deals and payoffs that have occurred. Britney may very well have an undisclosed medical diagnosis that is not our business. However, from everything I’ve read, the Conservatorship around her was established without due process of her rights and has an extremely abusive and financially greedy aspect to it. I applaud Britney’s fight to be heard. It seems she has been rendered voiceless for 13 years and that needs to be addressed in the strongest legal and medical terms. The New Yorker article was excellent and I’m hoping that Farrow/Tolentino stay focused on the case.

  2. Digital Unicorn says:

    Rats fleeing the sinking ship – won’t stop them from being sued by her when she does win her freedom and I think she will, eventually. They will be covering their asses (while taking what money they can) and getting ready to turn on the Spears family, esp Jamie (and rightly so). This is going to get messy for them all.

    That Lou Taylor woman is scary – she and Jamie pretty much made the conservatorship happen. Courtney Love has lots to say about her.

    • Eleonor says:

      This.
      I hope she’ll sue all of them.

    • Agirlandherdog says:

      I’m hoping the disciplinary counsel for the CA State Bar opens an investigation. Although I would assume it would require a complaint be filed first (as it is here). In this case, the claims are so public and egregious, it’s possible the Bar would take matters into their own hands.

    • Ariel says:

      Fleeing, after siphoning her millions for over a decade.
      And she doesn’t even have capacity to file a bar complaint against him, much less sue him, for not representing her competently. Everyone involved was there to serve the conservatorship, keeping the conservatorship, and keeping Jamie in control.
      Everyone was well paid to do it. and happily did it as long as Britney was gagged.

      Her family members should never be allowed to make one more dime off of her.
      And here today, Jamie Spears uses- not even the money he “makes” as a salary for her conservatorship, but HER money to hire a high end PR team to make him look good while keeping her prisoner.
      This is seriously horrifying.

  3. Anna222 says:

    I read the New Yorker piece and it gave me such anxiety – she is literally working to pay for the people whose job it is to limit her human rights.

  4. Lucy2 says:

    The Farrow/Tolentino article was heartbreaking and terrifying. The description of Britney trying to get a phone, getting caught, being punished… it’s so horrible to think of anyone treating her this way, but especially her own family. The greed is just disgusting. And criminal.

  5. Gah says:

    The Ronan/Jia article is crazy!!! And I agreeA this is rats and the ship situation.

    They know they are liable and that Brit could bring suit.

    These people are horrific and empowered by her scary abusive father.

    I cannot imagine as a mom having to give my baby to some guard on the regular- it would be gut wrenching each and every time.

    But the blackmail is insane- you better work Bitch or we won’t let you see your kids and will throw you into a crazy psych “recovery center” with all kinds of new psychotropic meds?!?!

    The wild thing is for years people thought Brit was being mind controlled by the Illuminati.

    Turns out she has been but not by the Illuminati- by her dad, her team and the judicial system.

    So effing gross. I hope all these people go to jail

  6. ElleE says:

    Queue the comments here, “ we’ll, I see both sides and she needs someone to…” make sure she doesn’t get knocked up by a sh!tty boyfriend who takes her $$$?? Yeah, call me when this country puts every person taking psych meds under conservatorship and puts a law firm in charge of their LIVES.
    The pharma industry should sponsor Brit, showing her free and shining brightly when this is over, and it will be over. Everything happening to her in plain sight has got to be bad for biz: get help, take our drugs and you’ll have to call your lawyer to get permission to get a manicure too!”

    • Robyn says:

      This part! I’ve been so disappointed in the mental health stigma seeping through so many comments all over the internet from well meaning folks. What has happened to Britney over the last 13 years is not justifiable – full stop.

  7. Golly Gee says:

    And I’m guessing her lawyer still hasn’t filed her request to have the conservatorship terminated. So things will be delayed. Once the request is made, Jamie and his team will fight it and it will apparently be a lengthy process for her to get out of it.

    Also the New Yorker article talks about how her lawyer was in thick with Jamie rather than standing up for Britney, although he does seem to have gotten better towards the end. Then there was that quote from the previous judge talking to Ingham: that the conservatorship didn’t prohibit her getting married, but he might not want to mention that to Britney. Nice.

    That article confirmed everything she said.

  8. Izzy says:

    I was so happy to see the New Yorker piece. Ronan Farrow comes for you, there’s no place to hide. I’ve been hoping he will write about this.

    • Golly Gee says:

      Yes! He has a lot of credibility and when he write something it makes waves. Plus he is a lawyer and while not specialized in this area of law, he has an understanding of the legal system and legal ethics.

  9. Ana Maria says:

    let’s pray that the best lawyer in the USA takes her case; she deserves to be happy and free

  10. Golly Gee says:

    Lisa MacCarley, an estate-and-probate lawyer who has become a mascot of the free Britney movement, says the probate courts are rife with cronyism, with judges choosing from a small group of favored advocates. She says Ingham “has made a lot of money bullshitting people.” (From Ronan Farrow‘s article).
    The deck is stacked against the conservatee from every angle.

  11. Christa says:

    As a health professional I think Ronan Farrow and Jia are missing some context. She would have had to have had a capacity exam for that emergency guardianship order. Those documents are supposed to be signed by 2 doctors, where I work it’s usually the attending on the case and someone consult from Neuropsychology. Also mental status fluctuates. You might not get the same result with repeat exams. I read the article and he does not include any of that. The article reads like a pretty bad indictment of Jamie’s behavior. It’s not pretty. To be free she is going to need to pass a capacity exam though whether she likes it or not. Kevin is not going to let her see the kids otherwise based on his reported attorney’s statement that I read elsewhere. Hopefully someone can make sure she is cared for until the exam.

    I see the possibility that she is behavioral though. Apparently that guardian of her person said said Britney begged her to stay.l, reported yesterday I think. The attorney did not file the motion for the dissolution of the guardianship but quit. She said in court she wanted the end of the guardianship but I am not sure she is actually saying that in private. It does not add up. No one is going to want to be involved in her case. Yea Jamie sounds abusive and if it’s true it’s tragic. After all that happened last week, if she said in private what she said publicly then I just have to imagine Ingham would have filed the motion. It will be interesting to see what’s next.

    • superashes says:

      I agree with you. In my locale, at that time, you couldn’t request a conservatorship with flimsy evidence, you needed a medical diagnosis and the court automatically appointed someone to represent the allegedly incapacitated person who got the second diagnosis from a different doctor.

      I would have felt better about the Ronan Farrow article if they delved into that a bit, but on the other hand, all those records are likely sealed, which is probably why no one can really describe exactly what evidence was presented to the Court to commence the conservatorship, and why the Court has allowed it to go on for so long.

      Either way, Jamie needs to be gone, like yesterday.

      • Concern Fae says:

        Problem is the rules for conservatorships are made locally. Apparently, LA has very bad ones. Your locale may protect the incapacitated, but many, if not most, places do not.

  12. Pinellas Pixie says:

    Her attorney, her manager, and the co-conservator all resign within a few days of Britney’s testimony and Ronan’s piece. Britney shone the cleansing light of truth and look at the roaches scatter.

  13. Mina_Esq says:

    The New Yorker article gave me anxiety from start to finish. I had no idea that Britney wasn’t given prior notice or an opportunity to respond when there was the initial application to get her under a conservatorship. When the court does something on an emergency basis and without notice, it is usually only an interim measure. And what precipitated the move was the incident where she locked herself in the bathroom with one of her babies. As a mother, i can imagine the pain of having to give up your young child and doing something like that to get an extra few minutes with him. She should have been given an opportunity to explain. Kanye has done more questionable crap but is still free, as it should be; stripping someone’s basic human rights ought to be way more difficult. My gosh, I hope this poor woman gets her freedom.

    • SarahCS says:

      I nearly mentioned Kanye in my comment below, this woman has been controlled from day one and the people doing it have been getting away with it.

  14. SarahCS says:

    Wow that article is a tough read. Good grief. Whatever the true state of her mental health (and after 13 years of this abuse I dread to think what she’s going through on a daily basis), she is being controlled for profit and that’s appalling. Will she always make the ‘best’ decisions if released from this? Probably not. I doubt any of us do!

    • Giddy says:

      I confess that I couldn’t finish reading the article. It gave me so much anxiety that I almost felt momentarily panicked. That’s how I felt just reading about her life. I can’t imagine what this abuse has been like to experience.

  15. Andrew’s Nemesis says:

    When Kanye was going through extreme mental trauma due to coming off his meds, no-one spoke of a conservatorship for him. But Britney, placed in an untenable position by her ex-husband, father and assorted hangers-on is denied her human rights for 13 years. Seems the system is deeply misogynistic as well as inhuman.

  16. My3cents says:

    Is she still preforming? I hope no one goes to her shows until she is free and not forced to make money for her abusers.

  17. Laura says:

    Do I think she has mental issues… Possible.
    But, could have been undiagnosed post natal syndrome. Or maybe the hormone crashes after birth triggered something… Or maybe it’s a more serious diagnosis. Whatever happened it has surely been sorely exacerbated over these years. Then she was exploited by most of the influential people in her life. I don’t care if her father and team built her wealth back up. That was done as much for their benefit as hers. And Kevin proving to be a decent father , why do we praise him for doing what most fathers do for no acknowledgment and for sure no soft landing.

  18. Chevelle97 says:

    For those saying that the article missed something, the information is out there if you look. A capacity declaration was never filed. I’ll choose to believe Britney, and hope that she’s able to get her own lawyer to help her though this.

  19. You Know Me says:

    None of this will end well.

  20. Ashton says:

    So let me get this straight, she’s not competent enough to have her freedom and be treated as a free adult, but she has been competent enough to work and make them millions of dollars??? It’s all about the money. They know the money disappears as soon as she has her freedom back. Everyone around her makes me sick and that includes her family.

    • Eleonor says:

      If she retires, if she refuses to work = no money, that’s why they forced her.
      This story is awful.
      No wonder she is traumatised.

  21. Songs(Oritdidnthappen) says:

    Weird to look back now and see how South Park treated Britney with more empathy, kindness and introspection than the legitimate press. Food for thought.

    • Holland S says:

      These “South Park” was right comments are so weird. Yes, they sometimes nailed social commentary, but they also at times were vaguely homophobic with Kanye gay fish and bigoted with “taco flavored kisses for my Ben”.

  22. Amelie says:

    This reminds me so much of the movie I Care A Lot but instead of elder abuse and seniors getting their rights stripped away it’s a younger person. I know there’s more at stake with Britney’s mental health. She was clearly incapacitated in 2008–whether it was drugs, that creep Sam Lutfi, or her own family… she was even dating a member of the paparazzi at one point. She needed a serious intervention but an iron clad conservatorship was a step too far it seems.

  23. Trillion says:

    I haven’t heard anything about the mom’s position on any of this. All I’ve heard is that she has liked #freebritney posts. Any of you know?

    • Golly Gee says:

      Check out People mag. online. Her mom has been offering up a mixed bag of opinions.

      In other news, Britney‘s personal conservator Jodi Montgomery has petitioned the court to appoint a third-party advocate to assist Britney in choosing her own lawyer. Having the third-party advocate would allow Britney to do this without having to have a mental evaluation.