Britney Spears’s conservatorship hearing — the first in the case since July — has gotten underway. The New York Times has reporters in the courtroom and will update as soon as there are developments. Her fans began arriving more than hour before its scheduled start, but Ms. Spears is not expected at the hearing, presided over by Judge Brenda Penny at a courthouse in downtown Los Angeles. As conservatee, Ms. Spears is not required to appear at the regular status hearings in the long-running case and has typically chosen not to. She did attend the June 23 hearing, when she spoke publicly at length for the first time about the conservatorship, calling it abusive and calling for it to end without a psychiatric evaluation. But even in that instance she appeared remotely. Unlike that hearing, during which live audio from the courtroom was available online to account for coronavirus protocols, today’s hearing will not be publicly accessible via stream. (In addition to shifting Covid-19 precautions, Judge Penny expressed dismay at audio of Ms. Spears’s testimony being shared online, despite her orders against recording it.) Limited members of the public and the press have been allowed to attend in person. The lawyers on the case — often in the double-digits, thanks to the number of parties now involved — may attend in person or remotely by video call or phone, as can their clients, including Lynne and James Spears, the singer’s parents. Despite the fact that some of the lawyers involved, including those for Ms. Spears’s father, are arguing against her stated wishes, the legal bills for the case are generally charged to Ms. Spears’s estate. Representatives for the singer and her mother have raised this issue with the court, calling some of the fees excessive. Just one of the lawyers who has been involved in the case, Samuel D. Ingham III, Ms. Spears’s court-appointed counsel who was replaced in July, earned more than $3 million in the 13 years he represented her. Ms. Spears is not known to have questioned Mr. Ingham’s fees.
Source: Music - nytimes.com
