And now, no lawyers? From the AP:

Britney Spears' lawyers in her custody battle with ex-husband Kevin Federline are quitting. The law firm Trope and Trope asked a court Wednesday to be relieved as Spears' attorneys. The firm says there's been a "breakdown" in communication with the pop princess that makes representing her "impossible," according to the filing, obtained by CelebTV.com.

Structured finance lawyers, it's time to put down those securitization agreements and pick up Us Weekly. Representing the embattled pop star is a growing practice area:

On a separate legal front, an attorney for Spears wants the city attorney's office to prove that the pop star is a permanent California resident and is subject to state laws that require her to have a valid California driver's license.

Spears faces up to a year of probation if convicted in a misdemeanor case of driving without a valid license, a charge to which she has pleaded not guilty. The case stems from a videotaped fender-bender in a parking lot in August. A hit-and-run charge has been dismissed.

Spears attorney J. Michael Flanagan earlier Wednesday requested that prosecutors be required to demonstrate that Spears, who owns homes in Louisiana and Florida, intends to make Los Angeles her permanent legal home.

Of course she does -- Britney Spears is the quintessential Californian.

Now if only the judicial system would just leave... Britney... alone!!!

Spears' Lawyers Ask to Quit Custody Case [Associated Press]

* U.C. Berkeley has settled on a new name for its law school. Check it out, it's quite brilliant. [Blogonaut]

(But we'll probably still conduct the reader poll mentioned here, just for the heck of it.)

* Strained attorney-client relations between Britney Spears and Anne Kiley? Apparently Brit has "trust issues" (in addition to that whole missing-panties problem). [OK! Magazine]

* Wow, this guy is quite a tool. Thankfully he's not a lawyer -- which you could infer from the facts that (1) he lives in Atlanta and (2) he brags about his compensation. [Gawker; follow-up here and here from DealBreaker]

* Judge of the Day. [St. Petersburg Times via Blogonaut]

* Exciting happenings this weekend: (1) the CSPAN rebroadcast of the Clarence Thomas book party, and (2) the nuptials of the Wall Street Journal's Peter Lattman. Congratulations and best wishes, PL! [WSJ Law Blog]

You mean old judge! From the AP:

Britney Spears was ordered Monday to surrender custody of her children to ex-husband Kevin Federline.

Superior Court Judge Scott M. Gordon ruled that Federline will take custody of Sean Preston, 2, and Jayden James, 1, beginning Wednesday "until further order of the court."

If Judge Gordon took Britney's VMA performance into account, Britney should move for reconsideration. We agree with Chris Nashawaty: she wasn't as bad as everyone (predictably) claimed she was.

LEAVE BRITNEY ALONE! [YouTube]
In Defense of Britney Spears [Entertainment Weekly]
Spears ordered to give kids to Federline [AP]
Britney Spears Has Lost Her Kids [TMZ.com]

* SCOTUS considers whether to open new Gitmo appeals. [New York Times]

* Meanwhile, Secretary of Defense Gates calls for Gitmo closure. [CNN]

* Spears and Federline have reached a divorce settlement, so no crazy litigation for now. [MSNBC]

* Sorority that allegedly kicked out unattractive members sues University for totally being not cool about it. [AP via Dispatch]

Have a good weekend, and Go Buckeyes!

Here's an update on the Britney Spears-Kevin Federline legal drama. The emergency court hearing that was supposed to take today, requested by K-Fed to discuss custody of their two children, was canceled.

The reason, according to various media and tabloid reports, is that Spears is back in rehab. She has reportedly checked back into Promises rehabilitation center (which she had fled earlier in the day).

Earlier this week, Spears was photographed sporting a shaved head. Here's some food for thought from a tipster:

So Britney Spears shaved her head. People think it's because she's crazy. But some have speculated it is because her ex-husband threatened to subpoena hair samples from her. And hair samples can show drug use going back years. Like backdated blood samples.

Is this comparable to obstruction of justice? Is it like shredding documents when you're afraid you might be under investigation, or those documents might be subpoened? Is it a form of spoliation of evidence?

Thoughts?

Britney in rehab for 3rd time in a week [Reuters]
Britney Back in Rehab [TMZ.com]
Federline Court Appearance Canceled [Associated Press]

One of our favorite cultural critics, the super-opinionated and hilarious Camille Paglia, recently weighed in on the trend of female celebrities "flashing their goodies for the camera," in the words of US Weekly. Despite her general "pro-sex" bent, Paglia disapproves of the practice:

These girls are lowering themselves to the level of backstreet floozies. It angers me because I fought a bitter fight to get feminism back on track and be pro-sex at the same time. This is degrading the entire pro-sex wing of feminism.

I am completely appalled by what these young women are doing because I think that they are cheapening their own image and obliterating all sexual mystery and glamour, which are the heart of the star system.

This led us to wonder: What would Camille Paglia have to say about Judge Pamela Ann Rymer taking the bench back in October with a partly open robe?

Does it still preserve "[judicial] mystery and glamour"? Or does it go too far, a la Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan?

CrotchGate Part II: Camille Paglia says Madonna Gave Britney the "Kiss of Death" [US Weekly Online]

Earlier: The Eyes of the Law: A Visit to the Ninth Circuit

Social conservatives are constantly carping about the threat that gay marriage allegedly poses to the institution of marriage. In response, proponents of gay marriage reflexively bring up the (rather tired) example of Britney Spears, and her joke of a marriage to Jason Alexander.* The debate gets pretty old, pretty fast.

Here's what we want to know:

What about those Columbia graduate students? Why isn't anyone talking about the threat that THEY pose to marriage?

* Jason Allen Alexander, Britney's pretty cute childhood friend -- not that other Jason Alexander. And now that K-Fed is history, might Jason and Britney get back together?

Columbia Grad Student Marries Friend to Get Bigger Financial Aid Package [TaxProf Blog]
Feigned Marriage Helps to Prove Financial Independence [Columbia Spectator]
How a Marriage of Convenience Saved $11,000 in Student Aid [News Blog/Chronicle of Higher Education]

* After being subjected to Prince Charles’s tampon metaphors, is there really anything more to know about the Royal Family? [The Guardian]

* Pussy. Labia. Vagina. (Yeah, I too know way too much about Britney’s and, thanks to the above, Camilla’s.) Salary? Buzz! That word is taboo. [Feminist Law Professors]

* But I think in Virginia, it’s still okay to give the homeless transfat. [Southern Appeal; Washington Post]

* Let me save you the trouble: they all taste like the industrial cupcakes moms have been buying for grade school birthdays since the post-war era. So to protect such cupcakes would be like trademarking sawdust. [Madisonian]

* Professor Slater wants you to know that the interviewing-as-dating analogy is inaccurate. Unless you get drunk and end up in the apartment of the interviewer after he tells you he’s in a band. [PrawfsBlawg]

* Another week, another Borat lawsuit.

* Wow -- it doesn't take much to get lawyers all hot and bothered. But ATL readers were evidently untroubled.

* Merry Christmas. There will be no O.J. Simpson book.

* But no Britney sex tape, either.

* Wesley Snipes has some harsh words for the IRS. And Judge Posner does, too.

* We hung out a lot with the Federalist Society. We watched the social conservatives and the libertarians slug it out over cultural issues. And we learned that Judge Edith Jones isn't the woman we thought she was.

After details of Britney Spears's "airtight" prenuptial agreement were disclosed, revealing that her soon-to-be ex-husband, Kevin Federline, wouldn't get much in the divorce, we began hearing this rumor:

Fed-Ex will be a hero to stragglers everywhere, moreso even than Kato, in his leveraging: [Britney] made an air-tight prenup; he made a videotape of his adventures into what had been allegedly air-tight territory during their honeymoon. Internet P0rn distributor's offer: $40M. Somehow I think that she is going to cough up more than that to prevent a Paris H. repeat...

But despite any spam you may have received recently touting the "Britney Sex Tape," it seems that America's most valuable home video is just an urban legend. From Reuters:

There is no "sex tape" involving pop star Britney Spears and estranged husband Kevin Federline, his lawyer said on Tuesday.

After Spears filed for divorce from the fledgling rapper this month, reports surfaced in the tabloid press that Federline had in his possession a videotape of the couple having sex and was considering making it public.

"There is not a sex video of Kevin and Britney in existence," said Federline's divorce lawyer, Mark Vincent Kaplan. Representatives for Spears had no immediate comment.

K-Fed really IS screwed -- and all because Britney wasn't.

(At least not on camera. Unless this publicist's nightmare counts).

There is no Britney sex tape, Federline's lawyer says [Reuters]
Britney Spears "STONED" acting strange UNCUT VERSION [YouTube]

To any single celebrities out there who happen to frequent legal gossip blogs, we offer you this piece of friendly advice: Before getting hitched, make your future spouse sign a prenup.

Sounds pretty obvious, right? But consider this, from Forbes's Prenup Primer:

Last week, Britney Spears filed for divorce from her two-year marriage to Kevin Federline, whose nickname has gone from "K-Fed" to "Fed-Ex." [A] day later, actors Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Phillippe also filed for divorce.

The difference between the two: Witherspoon did not have a prenuptial agreement, and Phillippe will likely have a claim to a substantial portion of her $60 million estimated net worth. The estimated $29 million in earnings from her next film may also be at stake -- her ex could get half.

But Spears did have a prenuptial agreement. In fact, it was a 60-page agreement that protects most of her estimated $100 million fortune. Britney could get away with paying Federline a measly $300,000, which he says he is owed, plus $30,000 a month for half the number of years they were married, which would amount to one year. That's pocket change for Britney.

More about the Britney Spears prenup, from the Daily Mail:

Britney even staged an elaborate sham wedding, again to protect her fortune.

The event, on September 18, 2004, in the modest back garden of a friend's house in the Los Angeles suburb of Studio City, was meant to be the "real thing." But with Federline yet to sign the pre-nup, a proper wedding could not go ahead.

So, with the paparazzi on her case, Britney decided to stage the "fake" wedding -- and drew up a watertight contract to ensure the ceremony was not legally binding.

The pair were then married for real in a secret ceremony on October 6 -- after Federline had signed the agreement that banned him from making any future claim against any assets his wife had prior to their marriage.

British newspapers are way more fun than ours. We love the colorful description of Spears's attorney, Laura Wasser, as "one of Hollywood's most ruthless lawyers."

For an impressively detailed analysis of the legal issues surrounding the timing of the Spears-Federline wedding(s) and prenup, check out Death and Taxes -- The Blog.

World Exclusive - Every detail of Britney Spears' pre nup and £65 million fortune [Daily Mail]
Divorce Docs Prove Britney Faked Her "Wedding" [TMZ.com]
Prenup Primer [Forbes]
Sometimes I Run, Sometimes I Hide, Sometimes I Blog About Britney and K-Fed [Death and Taxes - The Blog]
The Role of the Prenup in the Timing of Britney Spears' Divorce [TaxProf Blog]

* The Democrats are in the House -- and Senate, too. Say hello to the new chairmen of the Senate Judiciary Committee and the House Judiciary Committee. (And goodbye to Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.)

* It was a big week for politics -- and celebrity divorces. Parting ways: Britney Spears and Kevin Federline.

* Dewey Ballantine + Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe = Sexytime!!!

* Hit movie Borat + Two dumbass frat boys = Lexytime!!!

* "Shake-It-Like-Shakira" contest + Drunken Jersey girl = More Lexytime!!!

* Rumors of Justice Stevens's retirement: Greatly exaggerated? Or for real this time around?

* Speaking of the SCOTUS, here's a fun fact: "It is unlawful to... make a harangue or oration... in the Supreme Court Building."

* For the record, onetime Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork "doesn't go seducing women at a convent."

* News flash: Your friends who went into investment banking make WAY WAY WAY more money than you. (Unless you're a new Wachtell Lipton partner, in which case they make WAY more money than you.)

When we wrote about the Britney Spears-Kevin Federline divorce yesterday, we solicited interesting tidbits about Spears's high-flying divorce lawyer, Laura Wasser.

We haven't heard much about Wasser. But we did get this funny factoid about Federline's counsel, Mark Kaplan:

This is a great tip, if you have a good history of celebrity divorce: Federline's lawyer, Mark Vincent Kaplan, was CHRIS JUDD'S lawyer!!! I assume I don't need to explain to you why this is funny.

For those of you who do require explanation: Cris Judd is a dancer and actor, best known not for his professional accomplishments (whatever they might be), but for his failed marriage to Jennifer Lopez. Judd, a former backup dancer to J.Lo, was her second husband -- or possibly her third, if you believe those rumors of a brief marriage to David Cruz.

Family law practitioners in Hollywood tend to develop specialty niches. Some represent wealthy husbands, seeking to divorce their first wives with minimal financial pain. Some represent the jilted spouses, seeking to take their husbands for all they're worth. Some defend paternity suits brought against promiscuous celebrities.

And some Tinseltown divorce lawyers, like Mark Kaplan, represent future Trivial Pursuit answers.

BREAKING NEWS: BRITNEY & WHATSISNAME SPLIT [The Smart Patrol]

Earlier: Breaking: Britney Spears Files for Divorce!!!

* It's becoming a trend. Another member of the bar takes his own life after being accused of sexual misconduct. [New York Times]

* Let’s keep it light, shall we? Yup, Britney has finally wised up. The bad news is that she lost her lawsuit against US Magazine; the court held that Britney asked for it. No word on what the judge thought of that other infamous video. [Defamer]

* Will feckless music heirs, like Hugh Grant’s character in About a Boy, actually have to get jobs? Even though Courtney Love recently sold part of her stake in Nirvana's song catalog, I think Frances Bean is still pretty safe. [Lessig Blog]

* Take a cue from Chelsea Clinton, who was up and ready to vote before 6 a.m. today! Wow, celebrities ARE just like us. (Well, no, not like me, since I, like most BigLaw attorneys, straggle in, like, around 10 a.m.) [Empire Zone]

Midterm elections, consider yourselves upstaged. Pop princess Britney Spiers is divorcing her wastrel husband, Kevin Federline.

More details, from TMZ (which broke the story, and has a copy of the divorce petition (PDF)):

[T]he legal papers, filed today in Los Angeles County Superior Court, [cite] "irreconcilable differences." In her petition, Spears asks for both legal and physical custody of the couple's two children, one-year old Sean Preston and two-month old Jayden James, with Federline getting reasonable visitation rights.

As for money, sources tell TMZ the couple, who married in Oct. 2004, has an iron-clad prenup. Not surprisingly, Spears is waiving her right to spousal support. She's also asking the judge to make each party pay their own attorney's fees....

Spears has hired powerhouse celebrity divorce lawyer Laura Wasser, who has repped a number of celebs, including Angelina Jolie, Nick Lachey and Kiefer Sutherland. We're told Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Phillippe asked Wasser to rep both of them in their split, but Wasser declined for personal reasons.

We're all in favor of keeping marriages together. But this split may be for the best. K-Fed was bad news from the start.

If any of you have worked with or litigated against Spears's attorney, Laura A. Wasser, and can tell us a little more about her, please drop us a line.

Britney Spears Files for Divorce [TMZ.com]
Britney Spears FINALLY Divorces K-Fed [Gawker]
Britney Spears Divorcing K-Fed, Immediately Begins Search For Next Bad Relationship [Defamer]
Britney Spears Files For Divorce, Quashing Further Use of 'Spederline' [Jossip]
Laura Allison Wasser bio [Martindale-Hubbell]
Divorcing Stars Pick This Group: Top Hollywood Divorce Lawyers [USA Today]