Blair Berk and the Conservatorship : A Research Thread

[Steel Magnolia]

I'd like to compile a thread full of information about criminal defence attorney Blair Berk.

Berk became a lawyer for Jamie Spears...But originally, she worked for Britney.

A Timeline:

Berk first appeared in February 2007, just before Britney admitted herself to rehab for the third and final time:

Feb. 16, 2007:

• Britney shaves her head.

Feb. 20, 2007:

• “Right before Britney went into Promises, after she shaved her head, I got an anonymous call from a man while I was driving in Los Angeles. There are ***** planted in Britney’s Malibu home,” he said, going on to tell me that it was a conspiracy between Kevin and Britney’s assistants to make my daughter look like a bad mother.” (Lynne Spears, "Through The Storm," page 165)
• Two paragraphs later, Lynne admits that the man who called about the ***** was Sam Lutfi. (Side note: Three months later, Lynne and her friend Jacqueline Butcher proceeded to attend a taping of Dancing With The Stars with Lutfi, and also discuss shoe and jewelry endorsements with him.)
• Britney checked into Promises rehab center in Los Angeles.

Feb. 21, 2007:

• Kevin Federline was granted an ex parte (emergency) court hearing over custody of their two young sons.
• Britney checked out of Promises and drove to meet with Blair Berk, a prominent criminal defense attorney.

Feb. 22, 2007: 

• Britney checked back into rehab for a third time, staying for 30 days.

The Result:

The result of this series of events was that Kevin Federline was handed sole physical custody of the boys for the duration of Britney's 30-day rehab stay. For the remainder of 2007, it meant Britney was fighting an uphill battle in the family court, which eventually labelled her a “habitual, frequent and continuous user of alcohol and controlled substances" and later fully stripped her of any form of visitation.

It created a situation where Britney would need to obtain the services of Kevin Federline and Jamie Spears for help to solve a problem that they themselves created. Britney would need to enter into a "voluntary" conservatorship in order to visit with her children. Kevin Federline and Jamie Spears brokered a visitation deal in which the conservatorship was required, with Jamie named as the monitor.

Blair Berk worked with Jamie Spears to help obtain the conservatorship, apparently based on the information she obtained from Britney herself during their February 2007 encounter.

My Request:

If you have any knowledge relating to Blair Berks' relationship with either Britney or Jamie Spears, can you please post it here?

I'm especially looking for links to legal documents.

Thank you! 

[PrincessAkwa]

I know this is the wrong thread but I am sure Lutfi claimed he was a sober coach but never really explained what education or experience he had. 

I remember reading all this at the time and thought it was sus.

[Steel Magnolia]

23 minutes ago, PrincessAkwa said:

I know this is the wrong thread but I am sure Lutfi claimed he was a sober coach but never really explained what education or experience he had. 

I remember reading all this at the time and thought it was sus.

I recall that as well.

It's especially interesting considering the transcript of Larry's testimony from when he was subpoenaed by Kaplan for the custody trial...Larry knew a professional celebrity interventionist who was included in the group's conference calls.

Lutfi appears to possibly fall into roughly the same kind of category.

[Steel Magnolia]

April 3, 2009:

"Blair Berk, who formerly represented Spears and said she now acts as a personal attorney for Spears’ father, said Lutfi made threats “of an extortative nature” during a January phone call, prompting her to contact law enforcement."

Source: https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2009-apr-03-me-britney3-story.html

[Sea flower]

Thank you for sharing! Always so much knowledge when you post something.

I read on Meaner's accout that Blair Berk and Lufti apparently share many cases in common. Not just Britney. Are they even friends or it is just that people hire the same attorney when they want to fight the same guy? What a mistery.

[Steel Magnolia]

September 11, 2010:

"“He (Lutfi) was extremely agitated about the fact that there had been a car that he had represented to Mercedes that had been requested by Ms. Spears which is a car that he had driven for his personal use,” said Berk.

Berk personally inventoried the vehicle and discovered a letter addressed to Britney from Jon Eardley, an attorney who has a permanent restraining order against him effective based on allegations he conspired to overthrow the conservatorship.  She did not specify what other items might have belonged to Britney from the car other than to say she returned what she deemed to belong to Britney and to Lutfi respectively."

...

"Berk’s involvement with Lutfi didn’t end in spring of 2008.  She testified in April 2009 that Lutfi texted her on the evening of Jan. 10, 2009 requesting that she meet with him.  Subsequent to the text message Lutfi made clear to her that there was “embarrassing information that he was fearful would be released about him.”  He said that unless Berk suppressed the information that “destructive and unflattering information would be released” about Jamie and Britney.

“I immediately contacted law enforcement because of the extortive nature of Mr. Lutfi’s threats.  I took action to continue to communicating with him because I felt, based on my unfortunately 20 years of dealing with alleged extortionists and those that would extort my clients, that he would continue in his threats, extortive threats,” Berk said."

Source: https://breatheheavy.wordpress.com/2010/09/11/media-omits-blair-berk-from-case-against-sam-lutfi/

[Steel Magnolia]

Does anyone have the full PDF of this document?

[Justin Woodpond]

Great idea!

I’ve been recently to get my hands on Blair’s testimony from 2009! But to no avail. 

I’ll keep digging and let you know!

https://www.sbsun.com/2009/04/02/britney-spears-wants-ex-manager-arrested/

[Steel Magnolia]

April 2, 2009:

"On Wednesday, Jamie's lawyer Blair Berk denied rumors that Spears wants to end her father's legal control.

Britney "was in such fear [of Sam], she asked if I could get him arrested, to keep him away from her," said Berk."

https://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/gossip/britney-spears-asked-sam-lutfi-lawyer-article-1.361389

[Steel Magnolia]

February 22, 2007:

"After leaving rehab, the bloated, bald Spears made her way to the offices of powerhouse celeb lawyer Blair Berk, who represented Mel Gibson in his infamous drunken-driving case. Berk did not return a call from The Post."

https://nypost.com/2007/02/22/third-times-a-charm-2/

[Steel Magnolia]

February 1, 2008:

"Her father, James Spears, was named conservator of Spears herself. His eyes teared when the decision was made. He and an attorney, Andrew Wallet, were name conservators of the estate.

The singer’s mother Lynne Spears, was also in court. The parents sat with attorney Blair Berk throughout the hearing and they smiled and embraced her after the announcement."

Source: https://www.mercurynews.com/2008/02/01/court-places-britney-spears-under-temporary-conservatorship-of-her-father/

[Steel Magnolia]

 

[Applejack]

her 2009 testimony in the lutfi vs spears case would be interesting, if anyone could get that one

[PrincessAkwa]

52 minutes ago, Steel Magnolia said:

 

Sam Lutfi was involved in all four potential C-ships. Didn't Samuel Barth get a restraining order long before the others. Wasn't he the first victim?

Shouldn't Amanda Bynes be there somewhere too? 

[Steel Magnolia]

6 minutes ago, PrincessAkwa said:

Sam Lutfi was involved in all four potential C-ships. Didn't Samuel Barth get a restraining order long before the others. Wasn't he the first victim?

Shouldn't Amanda Bynes be there somewhere too? 

Samuel Barth's case occurred in 2010...But I remember a Blender article from 2008 mentioning Danny Haines and a restraining order, if my memory serves me correctly?

September 10, 2010:

"Samuel Barth -- an aspiring actor/model -- claims Lutfi developed such an obsession toward him that he hacked into his email, Facebook and Twitter accounts and set out on a campaign to terrorize and vilify Barth's mother and other relatives."

Source: https://www.tmz.com/2010/09/10/britney-spears-friend-sam-lutfi-restraining-order-samuel-barth/

[Steel Magnolia]

Not directly Blair Berk related, but it is Lutfi related...

January 29, 2008:

"After claiming extortion, emotional blackmail and humiliation, Haines got a restraining order against Lutfi in April, claiming he had sent him harassing and threatening e-mails and text messages."

Source: https://www.mtv.com/news/1580567/britney-spears-managerfriend-sam-lutfi-prior-restraining-orders-paint-a-dark-picture/

[Steel Magnolia]

Not Blair Berk related, but Amanda Bynes doesn't have good things to say about Lutfi either...

October 18, 2014:

"Sam Lutfi is out to clear his name in the wake of Amanda Bynes' recent troubles.

The former manager of Britney Spears penned an essay for xoJane in which he explained why he sought to help the 28-year-old star last week, by convincing her to return to Los Angeles so her parents could place her under a psychiatric hold and get her treatment at a Pasadena hospital."

Source: https://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/gossip/sam-lutfi-helping-amanda-bynes-article-1.1978881

October 31, 2014:

"Today, a day after her release, the star has slammed Lutfi saying: "Hey guys, Sam Lutfi continues to hack my twitter. He is evil and needs to be stopped. I am getting a restraining order against him."

Source: https://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/amanda-bynes-blasts-sam-lutfi-4542351

[PrincessAkwa]

3 hours ago, Steel Magnolia said:

Samuel Barth's case occurred in 2010...But I remember a Blender article from 2008 mentioning Danny Haines and a restraining order, if my memory serves me correctly?

September 10, 2010:

"Samuel Barth -- an aspiring actor/model -- claims Lutfi developed such an obsession toward him that he hacked into his email, Facebook and Twitter accounts and set out on a campaign to terrorize and vilify Barth's mother and other relatives."

Source: https://www.tmz.com/2010/09/10/britney-spears-friend-sam-lutfi-restraining-order-samuel-barth/

Yes, that's it! 

So they're all getting restraining orders, yet he still manages to be a" sober coach", "Hollywood operator" or whatever label he has at the moment and somehow get access to their lives. 

He was not working alone. 

[Tingle2mingle86]

omg, this thread 👀. I have never read much of this stuff before so thank you SM <3. You are opening my eyes even more so and wtf. This whole triangle of bullshiz surrounding Brintey is even more bizarre.

[Steel Magnolia]

This thread may start to intersect more and more with this thread:

...But it would be helpful to obtain more legal documents so that there is something more tangible to go by than old news articles.