Spector Sues Former Attorney

You'd think Phil Spector would have had enough of courtrooms by now. Think again.

The eccentric Rock and Roll Hall of Fame record producer, who has spent much of the last year in and out of the Alhambra, California, courthouse for a murder rap, is now ready to take his former lawyer to court. Spector has sued Robert L. Shapiro, alleging the high-powered attorney owes Spector a refund on a $1 million retainer.

The civil suit, filed Thursday in Los Angeles Superior Court, claims Shapiro and his law firms "took advantage of Mr. Spector and used his legal plight as an opportunity to unabashedly line their own pockets" after the former Wall of Sound wunderkind was arrested for the murder of B-movie actress Lana Clarkson in February 2003.

The complaint accused Shapiro and his two firms--Christensen, Miller, Fink, Jacobs, Glaser, Weil & Shapiro and the Law Offices of Robert L. Shapiro--of doing "very little legal work" as legal counsel and alleges that what was done was "incompetently performed."

The 64-year-old rock 'n' roll icon went to visit Shapiro, whom he considered a "friend and confidant," at the lawyer's offices shortly after getting out of jail on a $1 million bond.

Per the suit, it was there that the attorney allegedly "coerced" Spector into agreeing to a nonrefundable retainer worth $1.5 million plus hourly fees, no matter how much time he spent on the case. At the same time, the reclusive producer claims he was frazzled--unable to take his routine meds for an unspecified "medical condition" and "under a tremendous amount of mental stress that comes with being arrested for murder."

According to court papers, Shapiro conducted himself in a way that was "unprofessional, unethical and unconscionable." The suit says Shapiro's firms were negligent in interviewing key witnesses, as well as properly collecting and examining evidence, prompting Spector to fire the attorney, who is best known for helping get O.J. Simpson off the hook. Spector replaced him with another celebrity defense attorney, Leslie Abramson, of Menendez brother fame.

Spector seeks $500,000 in reimbursement, plus damages. His attorney in the civil suit, Raymond Boucher, was out of the office and unavailable for comment.

Shapiro remained mum on the matter, except to say the issues will be adjudicated before a judge.

"Because of the attorney-client privilege, I cannot comment at all other than to say that we will contest the allegations in court," Shapiro told E! Online.

According to the suit, Shapiro was also the one to discover one of Clarkson's fingernails with gunpowder residue, which sheriff's investigators missed upon searching Spector's home for physical evidence.

The 41-year-old actress was found shot to death in the foyer of his Alhambra mansion on Feb. 2, 2003, hours after Spector picked her up at West Hollywood's House of Blues, where she worked as a hostess. Spector later told Esquire in an interview that a drunk Clarkson shot herself. The broken thumbnail and a coroner's report would appear to support that claim.

But now there's a dispute over whether the fingernail ever existed. Prosecutors have accused the defense of hiding evidence.

During a hearing in the murder case Friday, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Carlos Uranga ordered Spector's new defense team to turn over the mystery nail to the D.A. for review--or be forbidden to use it in the future. Abramson denied hiding anything and even offered to bring in another O.J. player, forensic expert Henry Lee, in a pretrial hearing to testify that all he found was a piece of white thread tainted with blood.

The judge decided Lee's testimony wasn't necessary. Instead, he set an Oct. 20 preliminary hearing to decide whether there's enough evidence for Spector's case to go to trial.