Simpson Custody Lawyer Expects to Stay

Despite efforts to have her dismissed, the attorney appointed to represent O.J. Simpson’s two children said she expects to remain on the child custody case.

Marjorie G. Fuller had been accused by attorneys for the children’s maternal grandparents, Louis and Juditha Brown of Dana Point, of being unfair in her evaluation of the case. She has made clear since the proceeding’s pretrial stage that she thinks Simpson should have custody of the children. One of the children reportedly has asked that she be dismissed, sources said.

Fuller declined to comment Wednesday on the allegations, citing a gag order imposed on all courtroom participants.

“I have nothing to say except that you can see that I’m still here,” Fuller said outside court.

The Browns, the parents of the late Nicole Brown Simpson, are seeking custody of the children they have been caring for since their father’s murder trial.

Fuller was appointed by Family Court Commissioner Thomas H. Schulte to represent the interests of Sydney, 11 and Justin, 8. Schulte was replaced by Superior Court Judge Nancy Wieben Stock before the trial began three weeks ago.

Family law specialists said that a motion to have the children’s attorney dismissed is rare, particularly at such a late stage of a trial.

Anaheim-based attorney Ronald Lais, who briefly represented the Browns in the pretrial stage and reportedly clashed with Fuller then, would not discuss Fuller specifically on Wednesday but said it could be detrimental for a children’s advocate to quickly lean too heavily toward one side.

“You argue both sides,” Lais said. “You don’t go in with both guns blazing on behalf of the father and ripping the grandparents. In my experience, whenever the children’s advocate has sided adamantly with one side or the other, it has usually not been within the children’s interest.”

However, Irvine-based family law specialist Marc Tovstein said that judges do look for a recommendation from the children’s attorney.

“It would be uncommon if the attorney did not come down on one side or another,” Tovstein said. “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with doing that.”

Attorneys for the Browns, who are expected to conclude their case today, face a disadvantage, because the law favors placing children with natural parents. Part of their strategy, a source close to the case said, will be to argue today that the children “are better off safe and secure with the Browns.”

When Simpson was acquitted in October 1995 of killing his wife and Ronald Lyle Goldman, he asked to regain custody of the children, but the grandparents refused.

Simpson simultaneously is fighting a wrongful death civil lawsuit in Santa Monica filed by the Nicole Brown Simpson estate and the Goldman family.