Britney Spears’ mom says singer deserves right to pick own lawyer

Britney Spears's mom is lending her voice to support the pop star's plight to "handpick" a new lawyer and end her "abusive" conservatorship.
In a new court filing, Lynne Spears says the "Toxic" singer has made incredible strides since she was placed in a "unique" conservatorship while receiving treatment on an involuntary basis at UCLA Medical Center in 2008.
"Conservatee is able to care for her person and in fact has, inside of the parameters of this conservatorship, earned literally hundreds of millions of dollars as an international celebrity," Lynne's filing submitted by her lawyer and obtained by the Daily News states.
"To earn this money, conservatee has had to perform in front of millions of people, has had to manage hundreds of performances, has had to use her artistic and creative talents to prepare for shows by choreographing each and every move for and interacting with many co-performers, and has had to rehearse and perform for many thousands of hours over the years," the seven-page filing signed by lawyer Gladstone Jones and Lynne Spears argues.
"Her capacity is certainly different today than it was in 2008, and conservatee should no longer be held to the 2008 standard, whereby she was found to "not have the capacity to retain counsel," it says.
During a stunning statement to a Los Angeles judge last month, Britney Spears blasted her 13-year conservatorship and said she wants it to end immediately without any further evaluation.
She claimed her handlers made her work long stretches without adequate break time, forced her to take medication that made her feel "drunk," wouldn't allow her to remove an IUD to have another baby and kept her father in charge of her finances against her explicit wishes.
The "Circus" singer, 39, said while she had grown closer to her court-appointed lawyer Sam Ingham and spoke to him three times a week, she was denied the chance 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 would like to be able to do that," she said.
The next hearing in the case is set for July 14.
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Brenda Penny is expected to consider multiple matters including Ingham's request to resign as the singer's lawyer.
Ingham submitted his resignation letter in a court filing Tuesday, saying he would like to be relieved as soon as the court appoints new counsel to replace him.