Lance Armstrong, the seven time winner of the Tour de France, recently hired two new lawyers to join his high-powered defense team, which already includes prominent lawyers Mark Fabiani and Bryan Daly. Armstrong is in the midst of a federal doping investigation.

The new lawyers are John Keker and Elliot Peters based in San Francisco, who were presumably hired for their expertise with Jeff Novitzky, the lead investigator in the BALCO case against Victor Conte and San Francisco Giants' slugger Barry Bonds, among others.

In 2009, Keker and Peters scored a key victory for baseball players in 2009 in an investigation that Novitzky was leading. Keker and Peters convinced an appeals court to rule Major League Baseball's 2003 anonymous drug-test results could not be seized by federal agents.

Keker accused Novitsky of leaking information from that case that led to the accusations against Armstrong. Armstrong's lawyers contend that the cyclist has never failed a drug test.

We know Novitzky, and plan to prove that these are his repeated, illegal leaks aimed solely at destroying a true hero, not just in sports but in the fight against cancer, Keker told Reuters.

That the government is spending tax money investigating long ago bike races in Europe is an outrage.

New allegations against Armstrong recently came to light by former teammate Tyler Hamilton in a 60 minutes interview last Sunday. Hamilton accused Armstrong of taking EPO, a blood-boosting steroid.

In addition, CBS reports that George Hincapie, another former teammate of Armstrong, also told federal investigators that Lance Armstrong used performance enhancing drugs.

With all the accusations against Armstrong, will the new San Francisco-based lawyers help the cyclist in this fight against the federal investigation and the doping case?

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