A Los Angeles lawyer, briefly associated with Britney Spears’ on-going court cases/conservatorship has spoken out publicly about the way Britney has been treated, and is being treated, by the California court system. Jon Eardley, who was contacted by Britney last February, claims that Britney has been treated like a Soviet labor camp victim, that the conservatorship appointed by the court was, in effect, Britney’s “Gulag”.

Eardley claims that after Britney contacted him, the conservation was cut short, and that he was barred by Britney’s father from representing Britney’s interests and placed under a restraining order. The Daily Telegraph has more:

A Los Angeles lawyer has claimed that Britney Spears is being treated by the courts like a Soviet labour camp victim as depicted in Solzhenitsyn’s Gulag Archipelago.

In newly released court papers, Jon Eardley likened her plight to that of forced labourers in Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s literary masterpiece. Mr Eardley was voicing his objections to the court-ordered conservatorship that currently governs the pop singer’s life.

“It is worth noting that there has not even been a ’show trial’ for Miss Spears,” Mr Eardley said, according to the Los Angeles Times. He became associated with Spears in February last year, after the singer’s father was given the legal right to control her personal life.

The lawyer claimed that she contacted him to enlist his services, but the conversation was cut short. Following an intense legal wrangle, Mr. Eardley was subsequently barred from attempting to represent Spears and placed under a restraining order.

He has since distanced himself from the case, but is appealing to have the restraining order against him cancelled. Speaking on the singer’s behalf, her court-appointed lawyer, Samuel Ingham III, said that she “expressly repudiated Mr Eardley’s involvement”, adding that it was her express wish to be protected by the conservatorship.

From The Sunday Telegraph

I have mixed feelings about this. Despite the jokes that I (and many others) make about how crazy Britney is, I really think she has a serious mental illness. She needs to be protected legally, financially and physically, and I think her father’s involvement in her life has been a net plus. But I’m also really uncomfortable with many aspects of Britney’s “comeback”.

It seems like Britney’s father has been seemingly too eager to get Britney back on the road, making money, when she should be piecing together her personal life and her relationships with her sons. It would be nice to think Britney is now well enough to take charge of her own life and make her own legal, financial and career decisions, but I doubt that’s the case.

Britney is shown in Miami with her sons on 3/10/09. Credit: KADENA PIX/bauergriffinonline.com