Lindsay Lohan lawyer quits on eve of jail term

Actress Lindsay Lohan was due to surrender for jail on Tuesday but her lawyer was reported to have quit the case just hours before her court appearance.

Lohan, 24, was scheduled to report to a Beverly Hills judge on Tuesday morning to be taken into custody and start a 90-day jail term for violating her probation in a 2007 drunken driving and cocaine possession case.

But lawyer Robert Shapiro, who took her case a week ago, was reported by celebrity web site TMZ.com to have quit after visiting the judge on Monday.

The Los Angeles Times cited an unidentified source at the Los Angeles County Sheriff's department, which runs the jails, that Shapiro was no longer on the case as of Monday evening.

Shapiro, best known for successfully defending football player OJ Simpson on murder charges in 1994, said last week he agreed to represent Lohan on condition that she comply with her jail sentence. He could not be reached for comment.

The Mean Girls actress has been staying at a sober living facility owned by Shapiro for the past week.

On Monday night she sent out a nervous Twitter message to fans. "(T)he only 'bookings' that i'm familiar with are Disney Films, never thought that i'd be 'booking' into Jail... eeeks," Lohan wrote.

Lohan found fame at age 11 in a remake of Disney's The Parent Trap, and her subsequent work in Freaky Friday and Mean Girls established her credentials as one of Hollywood's most promising actresses.

But her career has declined since 2007 when she admitted she was addicted to drugs and alcohol, yet maintained a hectic nightclubbing schedule.