Mathew Rosengart, a powerhouse litigator whose resume contains clerking for U.S. Supreme Courtroom Justice David Souter and a stint as a Division of Justice trial legal professional, has a secure of high-profile Hollywood purchasers like Steven Spielberg, Michael Mann, Sean Penn and Casey Affleck. But it surely’s his work with Britney Spears in efficiently releasing the pop famous person from a controversial, restrictive and extremely scrutinized 13-year conservatorship that catapulted the Greenberg Traurig accomplice into one thing of a family identify and globally acknowledged authorized eagle.
In a swift 4 months, from July to November 2021, Rosengart dove headfirst into the probate court docket case after being handpicked by the singer herself with one objective in thoughts — to free Spears from the association that restricted her rights and left all life choices within the palms of a group led by her father Jamie Spears. Rosengart achieved that on Nov. 12, 2021, when L.A. County Superior Courtroom Choose Brenda Penny granted a petition to terminate the conservatorship. Over the previous three years, Rosengart remained on the case to settle free ends whereas resolving an ongoing authorized dispute with the singer’s father, Jamie Spears, over his legal professional’s charges. The latter matter was resolved two months in the past, bringing a quieter finish to your entire ordeal however delivering an exclamation level nonetheless.
There’s no lively litigation right now, Rosengart has stated. “As she desired, her freedom now contains that she’s going to not must attend or be concerned with court docket or entangled with authorized proceedings on this matter,” he defined in a press release issued on April 26.
As such, Rosengart is closing the chapter as Spears’ litigator of file as he shifts focus towards to different purchasers. “It has been an honor to function Britney’s litigator, to work along with her to realize her objectives in acquiring the court-ordered suspension of her former conservator, adopted by restoring her elementary rights and civil liberties, whereas persevering with to guard her and extra lately to extricate her from all excellent litigation and the byzantine probate court docket proceedings. As I’ve at all times stated, the credit score goes to Britney,” Rosengart says in a press release obtained by The Hollywood Reporter.
Rosengart’s work with Spears over these previous three years prolonged past the conservatorship as he emerged sporting many hats as a trusted counsel and level of contact in various high-profile negotiations and conditions. It’s understood, nonetheless, that his function in her life was at all times as a litigator and such an association would at all times have an finish date.
Rosengart performed a key function in shepherding various offers and developments in Spears’ life. These included an enormous Simon & Schuster ebook deal for her best-selling memoir The Lady in Me, a prenuptial settlement and subsequent divorce with ex-husband Sam Asghari, a restraining order in opposition to ex-husband Jason Alexander (who tried to crash her Asghari marriage ceremony) and extra. In Might, following an incident at Chateau Marmont that reportedly left her with an ankle harm, Spears credited Rosengart with serving to her via the aftermath. “This man is fantastic!!! He’s like a father to me,” she posted. “I am keen on you and admire you mister Matthew!!!”
For his work, Spears has repeatedly and profusely praised Rosengart via a number of Instagram posts (her major supply of public commentary) and in The Lady in Me. Rosengart has additionally been hailed as a hero by the pop star’s legions of followers, a gaggle that doggedly propelled the #FreeBritney motion. Although the eye, compliments and quite a few accolades and awards could have been a shock for Rosengart, it wasn’t fully new. Rosengart as soon as triumphed on behalf of Penn in a defamation case in opposition to Lee Daniels, and the Oscar-winning actor has since praised his lawyer as a “tough-as-nails avenue fighter with an enormous mind and larger rules.”
Mathew Rosengart speaks outdoors the Stanley Mosk Courthouse in Los Angeles on Sept. 29, 2021.
Kevin Winter/Getty Photographs
He beforehand advised THR that he leaned on these rules when taking the case. “I’ve at all times detested bullying, even rising up,” he advised THR. “Bullying a lady is much more unacceptable and abhorrent. It was troubling to me each personally and professionally, and I felt I may assist cease it, as a lawyer and in any other case. That’s a pledge I made, and it was actually rewarding to have the ability to assist.”
Spears’ life began to alter in June 2021, when, for the primary time, the singer addressed the court docket herself, by cellphone, throughout a conservatorship listening to. Spears spent greater than 20 minutes unloading to Choose Brenda Penny in a scorching declaration of life beneath the “abusive” restrictions she’d been beneath since 2008. “It’s my want and my dream for all of this to finish,” stated Spears who requested throughout ready remarks that she be capable of rent an legal professional of her selecting slightly than proceed with conservatorship-approved counsel Samuel Ingham.
Inside days, on July 10, 2021, Rosengart made his option to Spears’ residence the place, in a pool home, they met to debate a plan that may see the powerhouse litigator and former Division of Justice trial legal professional to take the case. The court docket authorized his appointment in July, and in a swift 4 months Spears’ want was granted. On Nov. 12, 2021, Choose Penny granted a petition to terminate the 13-year association in a landmark probate court docket determination, delivering a seismic shift for Spears that freed her from the conservatorship and opened her life in a means that left her future open ended.
Final October, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Senate Invoice 43 that up to date the state’s conservatorship legal guidelines for the primary time in half a century. The invoice was designed to provide people protected rights whereas additionally rising transparency on the method.
When the conservatorship was terminated that day in November, Rosengart fielded a query from reporters outdoors the court docket home in Downtown Los Angeles. “What’s subsequent for Britney?” requested a journalist, to which Rosengart replied, “What’s subsequent for Britney — and that is the primary time this could possibly be stated for a couple of decade — is as much as one particular person: Britney.”
Michael Mann, Mathew Rosengart, Casey Affleck and Sean Penn at a Selection occasion on the 4 Seasons Resort Los Angeles at Beverly Hills on April 20, 2022.
Emma McIntyre/Getty Photographs for Selection