J Lo and Ben's Divorce Judge Has Son-In-Law With Major Connections To Bennifer | TMZ Live

so you've heard this story about six degrees of separation with Kevin Bacon that people in Hollywood all have connections all inter and you know I may know somebody um that on a story that you're working on or somebody in the back knows something that I'm work Happ all the time happens all the time in the city there are all these connections so check this out um with JLo and Ben you we broke the story that JLo has filed for divorce she filed last week so what happens um when some he files is the case gets assigned to a judge a family law judge so um this one got assigned to a guy named Brad Phillips who was a very big lawyer in town uh became a judge um and he's hearing the case apparently very smart accomplished guy here's the rub Bradley Phillips has a son-in-law and the son-in-law happens to be a big agent in town his name is stran conver he works for the William Morris Endeavor agency WWE um guess who he represents that's the Rock and Hulk The Rock Hulk W no WME WWE oh what did I say WWE I'm sorry WME um and so um he represents lots of people including Ben Affleck he his his son-in-law reps Ben Affleck and the son-in-law spent time with Ben and Jen together so how is there not a confli of Interest wait but wait there's more the son-in-law also reps aod how does he stay on this case and worked with both aod and Jen when the two of them were in she of course dumped A-Rod to be with Ben afflac and to marry him the only person he has a represented is is JLo that's the only person he has a represented in Hollywood so now the question Derek um in fact you were um in the same law firm as the Jud that's exactly right we were colleagues at my old Law Firm before I worked at TMZ I was at a law firm in in downtown Los Angeles Brad Phillips was a partner there he's now moved on to obviously become a judge and he's doing the right thing here he's making these disclosures he's saying look I want to put this all on the table strand col strand coner is my son-in-law but we don't talk about JLo and we don't talk about benifer at the dinner table and I will not talk to them at all so it won't affect my impartiality and my and my feelings on this case how do you get around though the I me the simple fact is that Ben doing well in life is beneficial for This Guy's daughter how do you get around that even the word beneficial sounds like the two of them you know it's it's a it's a perfect point and and JLo could say look I think this guy when he's looking over our finances and making judgment calls about how we split things up might have a bias here she can phrase that objection and he'll probably take himself off the case but he's laying it all out on the table so that she can't say that after the fact and he's saying it's not going to make an impact on me so um look I you know I was thinking about this and there are couple of things number one in the law there are two things There's an actual confli conflict and the appearance of a conflict and even the appearance is a big issue so when you think about it look the divorce is really contentious they have no prenup which is one of the most shocking things I've ever seen in law and that's number one and number two they have not been able to work out a property settlement because there's a lot of entanglement they both have had a lot of projects during the two years they were married they have this house there's a lot to undo including his production company which was formed during the marriage and it's all community property so they got to work this out they've spent months trying they haven't it's gotten acrimonious they haven't spoken at times so this could end up before the judge and then the question how's JLo going to feel when a ruling or two go against her and that's going to be a big issue but she has to raise it now right that's right she can't s it's what we call sandbagging she can't sit back wait to see what the result is and then try to challenge it he's saying look here are the disclosures I am related to strand if you'd like me recuse from the case File your objection I don't think I'd be impartial uh or or biased in any I think I would be impartial I wouldn't be biased but go ahead and challenge it now don't wait until the end I'm haly from G Harper Washington and you know the messy ending to the second round Whirlwind romance with bennifer is not that shocking um you know I think it is pretty crazy that the judge the judge's son-in-law is connected to both Ben Affleck and Jennifer's ex um I don't necessarily see there being a conflict of interest but in reality it's Hollywood it's so messy so many things can happen but I do bet in the next five years or so or less Jennifer is going to come out with a new movie documentary maybe even another musical um showcasing this whole situation and yeah forget about the music is she going to remarry yeah that's true that's the thing yeah and I think once or is it more than I think the answer is definitely yes [Music]