Kanye West fired his fourth divorce lawyer ahead of a critical hearing today

Something I think about a lot is the fact that Kim Kardashian is well-respected and well-liked in the LA legal community. Part of that is respect for her father, who was one of the top lawyers in LA for decades. But part of it is that Kim likes and respects lawyers and she wants to become a lawyer. I imagine that it would be difficult for anyone to hire a good, respected lawyer to go up against a Kardashian in LA County. In Kanye West’s case, there are other problems though. Problems like… he doesn’t want to get divorced, he doesn’t want to work with a lawyer, he wants to do everything possible to stall the divorce, and he wants to treat Kim like she’s his property. So, big surprise, Kanye has fired yet another divorce lawyer.

Kanye West is playing the game of musical chairs with his legal team once again … dropping his divorce attorneys in the eleventh hour and just before a pivotal hearing with Kim. Sources with direct knowledge tell us he recently fired his lawyer, Chris Melcher. We’re told the relationship between Ye and Melcher had become extremely difficult, with little communication.

Our sources say at times, Kanye had expressed he just wanted to settle things with Kim … and at others, he expressed a desire to put up a fight.

We’re told Kanye’s now hired attorney Samantha Spector, who recently represented Nicole Young in her divorce with Dr. Dre. Interestingly enough, Dre was repped by “Disso Queen” Laura Wasser in his divorce — so once again, it’ll be Spector and Wasser on either side.

As for Wednesday’s hearing, it’s expected the judge will rule to make Kim legally single. We’re told it’s “highly unlikely” Kanye will attend in person, but according to the court record, Kim will either call or video chat into the hearing.

If you’re keeping track — this is apparently Kanye’s 4th attorney he’s parted ways with since Kim filed for divorce in February 2021. In a rare, and public statement she made last month, asking Kanye to stop with the nasty posts about his family, Kim also mentioned, “Hopefully he can finally respond to the third attorney he has had in the last year to resolve any issues amicably.”

What’s currently unclear … is whether or not Spector will ask the judge to continue Wednesday’s hearing to buy her more time as the new lawyer.

[From TMZ]

My guess is that one of the biggest issues Kanye has had with lawyers is that they won’t simply do whatever crazy sh-t he wants. These lawyers are officers of the court, duty-bound to behave ethically and legally. They can’t go into court and say “my client says the divorce can’t happen because Jesus wore leather jeggings, your honor.” It’s clear that Kanye’s last lawyer was just trying to do whatever half-assed stall tactic he could think of to placate Kanye, and I would imagine the relationship soured over that. Anyway, good luck to the new lawyer, she’s going to need it.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.

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36 Responses to “Kanye West fired his fourth divorce lawyer ahead of a critical hearing today”

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  1. jferber says:

    I hope Kim becomes single TODAY. Suck it, Kanye.

  2. superashes says:

    I’m surprised anyone would want to step in at this point. I doubt he is going to get any type of forgiveness on the timeline either, since it is his fourth change.

    What a mess.

  3. T says:

    In all seriousness, after a certain amount of time, can Kim just be granted the divorce? He is basically holding her hostage matromonially at this point. I feel for her, and I never thought I’d say that.

    • Colby says:

      I believe there are some hoops to jump through but yes a divorce can happen even if 1 party is refusing to participate.

    • Mary Tosti says:

      He’s an idiot.

    • Mac says:

      I don’t get Kanye’s strategy. Dating other women very, extremely publicly and yet doing everything in his power to delay the divorce is very weird.

    • Dierski says:

      Yeah, if a spouse is missing or uncooperative (kanye) in a divorce, there are definitely avenues to take, but I don’t know about the timeline. I hope it isn’t too long for her, he clearly cannot put down that shovel he’s using to dig himself a bigger hole in his personal life and relationships… Yikes.

  4. MerlinsMom1018 says:

    I can’t help but think that his previous lawyers actually dodged several bullets and are feeling pretty relieved that they no longer have to try to represent him
    I don’t know anything about the law or divorce but even I can see a stalling tactic when it pops up. Does he honestly and sincerely think and believe if he continues to drag this out that Kim is all of a sudden gonna be “you know? I made a huge mistake leaving him.”
    Honest question with no shade or snark intended

    • Dutch says:

      At times, he probably does think she’ll come crawling back and at other times he sees bent on making her life a living hell. I’m no lawyer but it feels like this portion of the process is pretty cut and dried no matter who is representing him at this point. The kids will be provided for and they both are publicly seeing other people and Kanye has yet to provide a compelling reason that they stay legally together. I can’t imagine a lawyer not telling him to take the L here and focus on custody and division of assets.

      I hope the judge doesn’t grant a continuance on this issue and issues a warning to Kanye’s team about his social media harassment.

      • fluffybunny says:

        They have a prenup and I don’t think they comingled assets so the only issue is custody.

    • Dierski says:

      I thought that too about the lawyers feeling some relief at not having to deal with him anymore. But also… he has a lot of money he’s able to throw around and obviously wants to move slowly in this divorce process, meaning more time for lawyers to work on his behalf. I’d imagine there are plenty of lawyers who wouldn’t mind working for him and running the clock while getting paid to listen to his bs. That said, I would probably go nuts working for a person like him.

  5. Wiglet Watcher says:

    It’s definitely another attempt to stall by changing legal representation. I hope Kim gets her freedom from Kanye like I hope anyone is an abusive relationship or divorce process can detach from their abuser.

    • MY3CENTS says:

      But how many times is he going to be allowed to use this tactic? Just wondering.

      • Roo says:

        Judges see this often, especially in family court, but a party can’t just fire an attorney. The court must sign an order allowing the current attorney to withdraw before a new one can officially enter the case. In this instance, it’s not clear that the court signed such an order, and if they did, they may have stated that the hearing would not be reset.

      • Mac says:

        Can the judge issue a restraining order with the divorce?

    • pottymouth pup says:

      now he’s asking to expedite the divorce My guess he thinks this is a tactic to somehow hurt Kim but I hope the divorce is expedited before he changes his mind and tries something else

  6. Lurker says:

    What I don’t understand is he parades all these copy-Kat Kim’s all around town and yet he still pleads to kim to reunite their family…

  7. Lady D says:

    He has an ‘I can do what I want, she can do what I say’ attitude emanating from him.
    (this was a response to Lurker)

  8. lily says:

    I keep thinking that in that picture with the wellies and the tucked-in tank top, Kanye looks like he’s auditioning for the Village People.

    • BothSidesNow says:

      🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

      OMG!!!! I lost my coffee through my NOSE for that comment!!!!

    • Dierski says:

      HAHAHAHA, omg I almost spit my coffee too! That is hysterically accurate.

    • SomeChick says:

      he really does! I still think he hired Julia because of her experience as a fetish model and prodomme. everything they were both wearing (all of which he picked out) points to this.

  9. NotSoSocialB says:

    Every time I see those boots, I want to dope-slap him.

  10. jferber says:

    Yes, those boots are not the friends he thinks they are. That probably goes for all the rest of his “friends,” too.

  11. Liz version 700 says:

    Before I took the bar I worked as a law clerk for a family/criminal attorney. He kept a Cosco jug of time on his desk for clients like this and when we would be on conference calls with them he would pass it around. I see a rant against lawyers coming after he fired the 7th or 8th one for not being able to make the Jesus Jeggings argument.

  12. SarahCS says:

    Not a Kanye specific questions but can someone tell me what Disso Queen refers to with Laura Wasser? Every time I read it as Disco Queen which makes me happy but it”s not that and I’m not sure what it means! Thank you.

    As for this sorry mess, go Kim, I really hope you can untangle at least the legal side of this sooner rather than later. All this is bringing back horrible memories of a colleague/friend who got divorced after he cheated on her (repeatedly) then absolutely put her through the wringer and made himself to be the biggest victim ever. All about control, it was horrifying.

    • observer says:

      i’m assuming it refers to the word ‘dissolution’

      • SarahCS says:

        YES! Thank you, seems so obvious now you say it but I’ve been scratching my head for years. Like when I finally realised why you say criminal (dirty) money is ‘laundered’. I’m not always this slow on the uptake, honest.

  13. Gabby says:

    Good for Kim. Kanye, suck it, you egotistical bully. He posted a new violent video on his instagram, which I hope gets preserved and played back at the custody hearing. Oh, and his stem player looks like a diaphragm.