Britney Spears accepts an award in April 2018.
A lawyer and a law firm assigned by a California superior court to represent Britney Spears in an ongoing conservatorship on Tuesday filed paperwork to resign from their appointments.
The resignations are included in a perfunctory form application for new counsel to be appointed to represent the singer’s interests. It reads, in relevant part:
Appointment of counsel to represent the conservatee [Spears] is necessary to protect her interests because applicant, who is conservatee’s current court-appointed counsel, and LOEB & LOEB LLP, which is associated co-court appointed counsel for the conservatee, have tendered their resignations. Said resignations are attached as Exhibits “A” and “B” respectively and incorporated by this reference. Applicant requests that said resignations be accepted effective upon the appointment of new court-appointed counsel.
The “applicant” is attorney Samuel D. Ingham III, who filed a tersely worded exhibit memorializing his decision to step down. It reads:
SAMUEL D. INGHAM III hereby resigns as court-appointed counsel for BRITNEY JEAN SPEARS, conservatee, effective upon the appointment of new court-appointed counsel.
The law firm of Loeb & Loeb filed a similarly phrased resignation signed by attorney David C. Nelson:
LOEB & LOEB LLP hereby resigns as counsel for BRITNEY JEAN SPEARS, conservatee, effective upon the appointment of new counsel.
All of the associated documents are dated July 6, 2021.
As a matter of legal ethics, attorneys are generally required to resign when they are “discharged” by their clients. It is unclear from the documents if that occurred here. Lawyers are generally allowed (but are not required) to resign in other situations, including for “other good cause” — and if the “withdrawal can be accomplished without material adverse effect on the interests of the client.”
Spears’ longtime manager Larry Rudolph has also resigned, several reports indicated earlier Tuesday.
Read the relevant court documents below:
This is a developing story.
[Photo by Vivien Killilea/Getty Images for GLAAD]