Nicki Minaj is no stranger to litigation. But she’s increasingly a stranger to her own lawyers.
In a New York case filed against her earlier this year by a concert production company, Minaj’s legal team at Kurzman Eisenberg Corbin & Lever is currently trying to withdraw because their relationship with the rapper has “irretrievably broken down.” But they say she’s refused to let them.
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“KECL has done everything within its power,” the firm writes in a Tuesday (Nov. 4) court filing, asking the judge to allow it to immediately pull out from the case.
And in Los Angeles, lawyers from the firm Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani demanded Tuesday that a court enter a judgment of more than $295,000 over accusations she never paid her bill from a 2023 copyright case — and then refused to respond to the firm’s lawsuit seeking to collect it.
The New York case was filed last year by 24/7 Productions, which claims Minaj has refused to reimburse $275,000 spent on her iHeartRadio’s 2023 Jingle Ball concerts and later that year for shows tied to her album Pink Friday 2. The company said it made “many attempts” over two years to get the money but that the star’s team had “never given a reason” for failing to pay.
Minaj’s lawyers have denied the claims in court, calling the case “an ill-advised attempt to sue a famous deep-pocket.” But late last month, the attorneys at Kurzman Eisenberg who made those arguments said they could no longer represent the star in the case due to “irreconcilable differences” that had arisen between them.
“Counsel and the Defendants have been unable to align on litigation strategy, and the attorney-client relationship has irretrievably broken down such that continued representation is no longer feasible or appropriate,” Bruce W. Bieber wrote in the Oct. 23 court filing. “There has also been a breakdown in communication.”
Then on Tuesday, Bieber asked the judge to relieve the firm immediately, saying they had been unable to even get Minaj to acknowledge their request to exit the case.
“The process server was advised that the concierge at Minaj’s residence was advised that somebody would come downstairs [for purposes of accepting the papers], but nobody came down,” Bieber wrote. “Finally … on November 2, 2026, the process server was advised that Minaj was not available and provided no further information.”
The Los Angeles case was filed in March, claiming Minaj had refused more than two years to pay nearly $230,000 in unpaid legal bills to Gordon Rees. The fees stemmed from a 2023 lawsuit that claimed she had stolen the beat to her 2014 song “I Lied” from a composer named Julius Johnson; the case settled late 2024 on confidential terms.
According to Gordon Rees, Minaj agreed to the firm’s rates — including $650 per hour for work done by senior partners and $425 for lower-level associates. Such rates are typical, or even low, for national firms working on high-profile litigation.
In a series of filings on Tuesday, the law firm asked for a so-called default judgment — a type of ruling entered when a defendant in a lawsuit refuses to respond. They want $254,791 for the original fees, plus $40,814 in legal bills it took to litigate the collection case.
