娱乐英语新闻:LA Superior Court appoints attorney to represent Jackson's children

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 11 (Xinhua) -- Los Angeles Superior Court on Tuesday appointed attorney Margaret G. Lodise as a special guardian to represent Michael Jackson's children in various business agreements proposed for the singer's estate.

    Lodise practices estate, trust and conservatorship litigation as a partner with the downtown Los Angeles law firm of Sacks, Glazier, Franklin & Lodise.

    Lodise regularly lectures on estate and trust-related issues before both legal and community organizations, and also has served as an expert witness, according to the firm's website.

    She graduated from the School of Law at the University of California in Los Angeles in 1988 and was admitted to practice that same year. She is a member of the Los Angeles County Bar Association's Guardianship and Conservatorship Panel and is a former president of the Women Lawyers' Association of Los Angeles.

La Toya Jackson (L) stands onstage with the children of Michael Jackson, Paris Jackson (2nd L), Prince Michael Jackson I (R) and Prince Michael Jackson II (aka Blanket) during the memorial service for Michael Jackson at the Staples Center in Los Angeles July 7, 2009.

    Lodise's role as the special guardian -- known in legal circles as a guardian ad litem -- will be to ensure that the children's interests are sufficiently protected during the legal proceedings.

    The duties are different from those of their natural guardian and paternal grandmother, Katherine Jackson, who is in charge of their custody and interests outside the courtroom.

    Jackson's children are Prince Michael Jr., 12, Paris Michael Katherine, 11, and Prince Michael II, 7. The mother of the two older children is Debbie Rowe, while the youngest was born through a surrogate mother whose name has never been revealed.

    Jackson died on June 25 at his rented Holmby Hills mansion in Los Angeles at age 50, just days before he was to perform a series of concerts in London.