Kevin Federline VKAPLAN100107_01.jpg Kevin Federline's lawyer Mark Vincent Kaplan may have been keeping away from the limelight recently - but he's taken the opportunity to clean house!

We've learned that Kaplan has recently fired Michael Sands, his spokesman.

Apparently, one part of Kaplan's reasoning to dismiss Sands lay in Sands' lackadaisical attitude towards his personal appearance.

Our source reports that the fastidious Kaplan repeatedly took umbrage at Sands' casual dress - including one time when Sands allegedly wore sweatpants to a deposition!

Also, our source points out that Sands frequently held conferences without Kaplan's authorization - including at least one which Kaplan had expressly forbidden him from holding.

The final straw, however, may have been the subpoena served to Sands by Trope & Trope, Britney's lawyers.

Regardless of why Sands was fired, however, one thing's for certain - without his spokesman, we can expect to hear even more "no comments" from Kaplan in the future!