After her court-appointed attorney Samuel D. Ingham III’s sudden resignation last week, Britney Spears has reportedly chosen her own representation in her ongoing conservatorship case.
On Saturday, TMZ first reported that the pop star had been in discussions with prominent Hollywood lawyer Mathew Rosengart of law firm Greenberg Traurig, LLP, to represent her, with The New York Times later reporting that Rosengart planned to attend Spears’s conservatorship hearing in Los Angeles on Wednesday to formally begin the process of taking over her case. Page Six also reported that Rosengart had agreed to represent Spears. The former federal prosecutor has previously represented a number of Hollywood stars, including Ben Affleck, Steven Spielberg, Jimmy Butler, and Sean Penn, per TMZ.
A source told Page Six on Tuesday, “Britney has had multiple conversations with Mathew in recent days. She was concerned about what was going to happen after [Ingham] resigned as her lawyer, but Mathew has assured her that she will be in good hands if the judge appoints him. He has been keeping close tabs on her case for a while now and felt that her testimony last month was very compelling. He’ll be in court tomorrow.”
Rosengart’s potential appointment as Spears’s new attorney comes after her co-conservator Jodi Montgomery reportedly filed a petition for a guardian ad litem. This request seeks to enlist a third-party advocate to assist Spears in finding and selecting her own lawyer without her having to undergo another medical examination—one of the requests Spears made during the emotional testimony she gave as part of her conservatorship hearing last month. Following her testimony, in addition to Ingham’s exit, Spears’s longtime manager resigned and the wealth-management firm that was set to take over as her co-conservator also requested to withdraw.
However, there could be one complication to Rosengart’s appointment, according to TMZ. Because of her legal situation, Spears is not able to sign contracts without the approval of her conservator and father, Jamie Spears, the same man she’s hoping her new lawyer would help her remove. The outlet claimed Tuesday that, to fight this, Rosengart will make the argument to the judge today that the singer has a constitutional right to due process and a lawyer of her choice.
Rosengart did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
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