Angelina Jolie 'fighting a losing battle' with Brad Pitt over custody row

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are at each other's throats amid legal proceedings of their children's custody case.

In a court hearing on Friday, Pitt's attorney striked back at Jolie after her  lawyer, Robert Olson, appealed to remove Judge John W. Ouderkirk from the custody case. Her previous request to remove him was denied last November and Pitt was given joint custody of their six kids in May.

On Friday, Olson maintained that Judge Ouderkirk was not impartial in handling the case, alleging that he was working on legal matters with Pitt's attorney.

"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."

In response, Pitt's lawyer fired back, claiming Jolie 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."

"There were no surprises," he added. "Ms. Jolie and her counsel knew about the relationship and the grounds."

Speaking to Entertainment Tonight, Kelly Chang Rickert, a family law attorney said she believes Jolie may be "fighting a losing battle."

"If Ouderkirk had sided with Angelina and granted her sole custody, she would never be filing this appeal; she would not challenge his ruling as biased," she said. "The only reason she's challenging it is because she lost. I mean, she's struggling, she's reaching here."