In March, Britney Spears was ordered to pay $375,000 to her ex Kevin Federline’s lawyers for representing him in their long, drawn-out custody battle for their two young boys. This came after she footed a $120,000 legal bill for K-Fed in November.

So that makes $495,000 Britney paid just to her ex husband’s legal team. In mid July she ultimately settled with Federline without going to court and he now has sole physical and legal custody of Sean Preston, who turns three next month, and Jayden James, nearly two. Britney has three days a week with her sons plus one overnight. All those lawyers hammering out the details for the custody agreement will cost Britney dearly, though. One of her lawyers wants over $300,000 in legal fees.

Lawyer Stacy Phillips wants $338,414.87 for representing Britney, and she claims that’s a discount. Britney’s former divorce attorney Laura Wasser ended up completing the case and her bill is a comparatively reasonable $60,000 for two months worth of work.

Stacy Phillips, one of the shorter-term members of Britney Spears’ legal team, has let it be known that shoring up one’s defenses can be downright bank-breaking.

According to a declaration filed Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court, the “Sometimes I Run” songstress owes $338,414.87 to Phillips for $700-an-hour services rendered between March and June—and there are rumors of a lawsuit in the works, because Spears’ camp is objecting to the hefty sum. (View court documents.)

But that’s a discount, says the attorney, who states that the tab includes “time already deducted as a courtesy,” time “written off” and $75,000 that she expects to get next month. (A court commissioner earmarked that sum for Phillips in April while poring over Spears’ bills.)

Phillips was dismissed before Spears’ custody settlement was reached last month with the help of Spears’ recently reinstated family lawyer Laura Wasser, who broke ranks last fall but returned in time to help Spears obtain more visitation privileges with sons Sean Preston and Jayden James (although Kevin Federline still has sole physical and legal custody).

Wasser’s most recent bill, encompassing two months of counsel, totals $60,075, per another declaration filed on behalf of the law firm of Wasser, Cooperman & Carter.

But because her firm has already applied Spears’ $25,000 retainer fee toward her bill, she’s requesting no more than half of the total sum at this time.

Why so high, you might ask?

Phillips says that Spears’ conservatorship arrangement, which has gotten much of the credit for her 180-degree turn for the better over the last five months, made her case more complex.

[From E! Online]

Britney’s dad is going to contest Phillip’s exhorbitant fee and there’s a hearing scheduled for September 16 for this issue.

This sounds pretty outrageous and a way for a lawyer to take advantage of a rich client. At $700 an hour, those fees can sure add up though.

In related news, there’s some buzz that Britney might be preparing for another VMAs performance. She’s already recorded promotional spots for the awards show with the new host, comic Russell Brand. I hope she isn’t performing again, though. She would do well to stay away from the VMAs after what she went through last year. It’s better she sits it out than tries to prove herself – even if she has improved substantially.

Britney is shown below leaving Koi restaurant on 8/14/08. She is shown about out shopping on 8/9/08. Credit: WENN