Another New Lawyer for Oksana Grigorieva 0
We previously reported on Mel Gibson-ex’s Oksana Grigorieva’s hiring of celebrated Los Angeles family law attorney Sorrell Trope. But it looks like Trope is already out.
TMZ.com is reporting that Grigorieva has had 40 different lawyers at her service over the life of the child custody and child support case pending against Gibson for baby Lucia. A close look at the record reveals this to be a slight exaggeration on TMZ’s part.
Grigorieva does have a new attorney, Lisa Bloom. And she did have a family law specialist make an appearance on her behalf last week (Mitchell Jacobs). But many of the lawyers in TMZ’s list actually work for the same law firms.
TMZ says that the list of Grigorieva lawyers includes Bloom, Jacobs, Martin Garbus, Daniel Horowitz, Eric George, Sonia Lee, Robin Sax, John Carlson, James Spertus, Ezra Landes, Mary Fulginiti, Amy Hinkley, Dan O’Malley, Suzie Obeda and Amanda Touchton. (Of those 15 lawyers though, two work for the Browne Woods George firm and five work for the Spertus firm.)
In addition to that list, Sorrell Trope’s firm had multiple lawyers on the case: Trope, Anne Kiley, Angela Harris, Bret Hunter, Hillary Slevin, James Durant, John Ellis, Jennifer Leong, Jonathan Pakravan, Katie Heersema, Lori Howe, Melanie Shornick, Mark Patt, Sophie Bidet, Sarah Luetto, Thomas Dunlap and Tara Scott.
And, at some point, the firm of Freid and Goldsman had the following lawyers working for Grigorieva: Manley Freid, Gary Cohen, Marci Levine, Janet Kaplan, Cori Steinberg, Susan Park, Jill Foley Alexander and Kristine Capell.
When someone engages a lawyer to represent them, they are usually engaging the firm as well as the specific lead attorney. Other attorneys at the firm may do work on the case, make court appearances or participate in depositions as a result of scheduling or other necessary efficiencies (i.e., younger associates may draft and file pleadings or participate in discovery conferences or minor hearings; one partner may have an expertise or relationship that makes it appropriate for them to handle a certain part of the case). So, we wouldn’t generally count multiple attorneys at the same firm when tallying someone’s list of lawyers.
The other consideration that TMZ fails to note is that Grigorieva has several legal issues pending at once – the custody and child support issues, her potential involvement in a criminal case as victim-witness (alleged domestic violence) and the pending investigation of alleged extortion. Thus, she has employed both family law and criminal attorneys.
Her family law attorneys have essentially been the Freid firm, the Trope firm, Bloom (who is Gloria Allred’s daughter and is not a family law specialist), Jacobs and Carlson. That’s four, maybe five (which is still quite a few but it’s not 40).
Her criminal (and possibly civil litigation) counsel have been Garbus, Horowitz, the Browne Woods George firm, Sax, the Spertus firm, Fuginiti and O’Malley. That’s seven representations (some of whom were working together) – again, not 40. TMZ’s post is not entirely inaccurate and Grigorieva has employed more attorneys than is typical – but the story is definitely “spun” by TMZ for optimal buzz.
Library Topics: child custody, child support, family law specialist
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