Brad Pitt's lawyer fires back at Angelina Jolie over her bid to remove private judge in custody appeal

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt's lengthy custody battle is getting heated.

The estranged couple's five-year divorce entered a new stage of complications on Friday when their legal teams presented their arguments in a remote appellate court hearing.

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Jolie's lawyer, Robert Olson, argued to remove their private judge, Judge John W. Ouderkirk, from the custody case. The actress' previous request to remove him was denied last November.

No immediate decision from the three-justice panel was made after more than an hour of back-and-forth between lawyers Robert Olson for Jolie and Ted Boutrous for Pitt.

During Friday's hearing, Olson argued that the private judge was working on legal matters involving Pitt's lawyer.

"Until Ms. Jolie asked, what was going on was only known to the judge, the ARC and the opposing counsel ... she was shocked that this was going on," Olson said. "Ms. Jolie did not know anything that happened between counsel for Pitt and the judge."

"If you're going to play the role of a paid private judge you have to play by the rules and the rules are very clear, they require full transparency," Olson added. "Matters that should have been disclosed were not disclosed... If rules have no consequences they are empty."

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Pitt's lawyer, Boutrous, fired back, arguing that Jolie is engaging in a "delaying tactic" — he claimed the actress doesn't like Ouderkirk's earlier decisions in the case and knew about the potential conflict all along.

"Here in a child custody case that's been going on for so long, the children are getting older," he argued, "and to allow a delaying tactic like this would be extremely unjust."

Ouderkirk currently remains the judge in the case as no decision has been made to remove him. However, if he is dismissed, Ouderkirk's previous rulings in the case could be voided while a new judge would be appointed — which will slow down the case even further.

The latest appellate hearing comes less than two months after Pitt was granted joint custody of five of the six children: Pax, 17, Zahara, 16, Shiloh, 14, Vivienne, 12, and Knox, 12. The pair's eldest son Maddox is 19 and is considered a legal adult, so he is not subject to the custody decision.

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