Posts Tagged ‘stacy phillips’

Source: K-Fed Might Allow Brit to See Kids

February 19th, 2008 / Author: cwillett

UPDATE: After this morning’s session, a representative for the court announced that there had been no change in visitation. However, as lawyer’s for both sides head back into court, it’s unclear if the issue is completely off the table for the day.

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Sources close to the Britney Spears custody case are confirming to OK! that the singer’s ex-husband Kevin Federline might not fight her request to regain some visitation privileges to her two boys — provided that her father is present.

As OK! had previously reported, sources were saying that K-Fed and his legal team were considering the idea of allowing Britney to have some personal time with Sean Preston, 2, and 1-year-old Jayden James and it looks like that time might come sooner rather than later, so long as the visitation is supervised by the boys’ grandfather, Jamie Spears, who has shown remarkable conviction in keeping his previously unpredictable daughter in-line since being named her conservator almost three weeks ago.

Right now, Britney’s father, their lawyers and K-Fed’s attorney Mark Vincent Kaplan are behind closed doors in the courtroom. A press conference is expected later this afternoon.

Stay tuned to OK! as this story continues to develop.

No Visitation Change for Britney

February 19th, 2008

Despite a desire on both sides of the Britney Spears and Kevin Federline custody battle to see the pop star reunited with her two boys, no agreement was reached in court on Tuesday and Britney’s visitation privileges remain as before, meaning that the pop star can only speak to her children over the phone.

Speaking to OK! after today’s proceedings, Kevin’s attorney Mark Vincent Kaplan said that his client "wants to see the day when the boys have their mom back in their life… it’s just a question of working out the details."

Of course, this news was just the capper on what was a big day in court for the lawyers in the Spears/Federline case.

As OK! was the first to report, Britney Spears has found new legal representation in the form of celeb divorce specialist Stacy Phillips. This comes in the wake of her lawyers at Trope & Trope filing their second request to be removed from the child custody case.

Phillips, who has handled the former spouses of everyone from Axl Rose to Tori Spelling, was accepted by the court and will officially replace Trope & Trope at the end of today’s proceedings. (CLICK HERE for a more detailed background on this dragon lady of divorce).

For today, Phillips will work alongside Trope attorney Anne Kiley as she argues several issues, including visitation privileges and a request for a gag order.

First up today was the issue of the gag order. In a statement to the judge, Kiley claimed that "First Amendment rights aren’t absolute… We are not trying to control the paparazzi. We are trying to control what we can control." Kiley then pointed a legal finger at Kaplan, saying, "We have heard nothing from the respondent in his papers or arguments as to why it is that attorneys need to make statements to the media."

For his part, Kaplan argued that since the court has sealed most of the documents related to the case and since the courtroom is often closed to the public, there is no need for the gag order. And it appears that Commissioner Gordon agreed, ruling against the request and stating that "the public has a right to know what the court is doing and to see that it’s fair." He added, "all the attorneys in this case have proceeded with nothing but dignity."

Britney Goes After Celeb Attorney

February 18th, 2008 / Author: cwillett

Sources close to Britney Spears are telling OK! that the most likely candidate to replace her current lawyers in her ongoing custody battle with ex-husband Kevin Federline is family-law attorney to the stars Stacy Phillips of the law firm Phillips, Lerner, Lauzon & Jamra.

Phillips is no stranger to high-profile cases, having represented Bobby Brown, baseball legend Darryl Strawberry, and the ex-spouses of Axl Rose, Tori Spelling and Jean-Claude Van Damme, among many others in her 24 years of family law practice.

The Ivy League legal eagle — she has degrees from both Dartmouth and Columbia — is one of the most feared divorce and custody attorneys in the country and has recently written the book Divorce: It’s All About Control How to Win the Emotional, Psychological and Legal Wars. Ironically, Divorce received a certificate of commendation from the Mayor of Los Angeles, Antonio Villaraigosa, whose soon-to-be-ex-wife Corina is represented by… that’s right — Phillips!

Last week, Brit’s current attorneys from the firm Trope & Trope filed their second request to the court to be removed from the singer’s custody case.

Calls for comment from Phillips and K-Fed’s attorney Mark Vincent Kaplan have not yet been returned.

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