Britney Spears’s Lawyer Has Made $3 Million From Her Conservatorship Yet Never Told Her She Could End It
Is he actually protecting her?
Getty Images After Britney Spears delivered a shocking testimony to a California court detailing 13 years of trauma under her controversial conservatorship, questions must be asked about those involved in the case.
Spears’s lawyer, Samuel D. Ingham III, is facing scrutiny over whether or not he has adequately supported or educated his client who claims to have been forced to work against her will and that she was unaware of her rights in filing to end her conservatorship.
Who is Britney Spears’s lawyer, Samuel D. Ingham III?
Ingham is a California-based lawyer whose practice focuses on proceedings involving conservatorships and trusts.
Ingham was appointed as Spears’s attorney in 2008.
Ingham became Spears’s lawyer in 2008 while her father, Jamie Spears, was petitioning for a conservatorship and the right to control his daughter’s personal finances.
At the time, Spears was in the hospital for an involuntary psychiatric evaluation and a court had deemed her incapable of hiring her own counsel.
Ingham has had other high-profile clients.
Ingham has worked on the conservatorship of radio legend Casey Kasem.
Kasem was 82 when the conservatorship was put in place for his final year of life and was suffering from cognitive impairment.
Ingham also worked on media mogul Sumner Redstone’s conservatorship. Redstone was also elderly and ailing when the guardianship was put in place.
Ingham is estimated to have made $3 million from representing Spears.
It is reported that Ingham makes $475 an hour from his work representing Spears. In 2019, reportedly made $373,000 and a total of $3 million since 2008.&
Recently, Ingham requested to hire additional litigation specialists with fees totaling $237,761.23 for seven months of work.
Under the conservatorship, Spears not only pays for a lawyer she didn’t choose herself but also for the legal team representing her conservators who she has vehemently criticized.
Ingham is being criticized for failing to protect Spears.
Voices in the #FreeBritney movement have questioned Ingham’s ability to represent Spears after he appears to have failed at informing her of her rights in the conservatorship.
At Wednesday’s hearing, Spears told the court “I didn’t know I could petition the conservatorship to be ended.”
“I’m sorry for my ignorance, but I honestly didn’t know that,” she added. “My attorney says I can’t — it’s not good, I can’t let the public know anything they did to me.”
Court documents imply Spears has been pushing to modify the terms of her conservatorship since 2014, yet remained unaware of her right to question the arrangement be dissolved.
Ingham raised concerns over Spears’s custody of her children.
At a 2014 meeting, Ingham raised concerns expressed by Spears about her father’s drinking and the custody of the children she shares with Kevin Federline.
However, he also informed Jamie Spears’s lawyers about his daughter’s use of expletives in the presence of her children.
He noted that he had told Jamie Spears’s lawyers in charge of custody arrangements “so he can take whatever steps are necessary to protect the children.”
Spears wants to change her lawyer.
In her testimony, Spears noted that she has built a relationship with her legal team who she speaks to three times a week but noted that she would like to choose her own counsel.
“I haven't really had the opportunity by my own self to actually handpick my own lawyer by myself. And I would like to be able to do that,” she said. She has never publicly expressed any dissatisfaction with Ingham’s team.
Alice Kelly is a writer living in Brooklyn, New York. Catch her covering all things social justice, news, and entertainment. Keep up with her Twitter for more.