Spector Re-Sues Attorney Number One

UPDATE: Spector and Shapiro settled the case in March 2011. A judge ordered the terms of the settlement sealed.
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Phil Spector's legal bills could conceivably have as many zeros as the state budget now, but apparently you never forget your first million.

The enduring murder suspect sued criminal defense attorney Robert Shapiro for the second time Wednesday in what amounts to another attempt to recoup the seven-figure retainer he forked over when he first hired the lawyer in 2003.

Shapiro, most notable on the tabloid circuit as a member of the "dream team" that won O.J. Simpson an acquittal on murder charges in 1995, was one of several big-name legal minds Spector had in his employ before finally deciding on the team that defended him of the Feb. 3, 2003 murder of actress Lana Clarkson.

That four-month-long process ended in a mistrial in September and Spector is supposed to be retried for second-degree murder sometime next fall.

Recently hired San Francisco attorney Doron Weinberg is planning to take the helm of Spector's defense, which has been that Clarkson accidentally shot herself in the hallway of the famed music producer's Alhambra mansion.

Spector first sued Shapiro in July 2004, complaining that the Beverly Hills attorney did "very little legal work" before he was fired earlier that year, and that Shapiro's team used Spector's "legal plight as an opportunity to unabashedly line their own pockets."

The embattled Wall of Sound creator agreed to drop the suit in December 2005 under the condition that he could refile if or when he saw fit.

The new lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, similarly alleges that Shapiro "took unfair and unscrupulous advantage of his friendship and position of trust with Mr. Spector, and decided to use Mr. Spector's arrest as an opportunity to make a financial windfall and garner publicity for himself."

Shapiro's lawfirm, which is accused of vouching for the attorney's so-called unscrupulous tactics, is also named as a defendant.

Spector alleges that he was pressured into inking a deal with the firm while he was "laboring under a tremendous amount of mental stress that comes with being arrested for murder."

When he signed the papers and cut Shapiro a check for $1 million, Spector was undergoing treatment for mental problems and hadn't had access to his medication for several days, the suit says.

The first time around, Shapiro fired back in court documents stating that his work for the accused was "impeccable" and gave Spector "the best possible foundation to defend against his pending charges."

Spector replaced Shapiro back in '04 with Leslie Abramson, who famously, albeit unsuccessfully, defended the Menendez brothers of the murder of their parents.

But, O.J.'s old attorney was still lead counsel for Spector when, according to the L.A. District Attorney's Office, renowned forensics expert Dr. Henry Lee (who also testified in Simpson's case) tampered with a piece of evidence in Spector's home—an accusation Lee has vehemently denied.

Attorney Sara Caplan, who was held in contempt this summer after refusing to testify about Lee's actions during Spector's trial, was working for Shapiro at the time.

Lee, looking to avoid further damage to his professional reputation, distanced himself from the Spector trial and eventually ended up not testifying—a major blow to the defense, which had been building up his conclusions on blood spatter and other physical evidence to be a cornerstone of its case.

The prosecution and the revamped defense are due back in court May 22 to discuss a date for the retrial.