Also, one of Hubbard's remaining attorneys told the judge the defense would not be ready in time for the March 28 trial date.
Lee County Circuit Judge Jacob Walker approved the motion to withdraw by the firm White Arnold and Dowd.
Hubbard had filed a motion giving his consent to the withdrawal.
Mark White has served as the main spokesman for Hubbard's defense. The firm did not give a reason for the withdrawal in the motion filed Dec. 31 or in court today during a short hearing.
Deputy Attorney General Michael Duffy told the judge that criminal procedure rules require lawyers to disclose their reason for withdrawal in cases in which a trial date has been set.
White disputed that, saying the reason for withdrawal was protected by attorney-client privilege.
White said information about the reason for withdrawal should be given to the judge in private, with the prosecution excluded.
Walker met in his chambers with the defense team for a few minutes before granting the motion to withdraw.
Prosecutors did not object to the withdrawal but said they did not want the trial delayed.
The judge asked Hubbard attorney Lance Bell, who remains on the case, if the defense would be ready for trial by March 28. Bell said they would not.
Walker had earlier postponed the trial from October to March at the defense's request and over the objections of the prosecution.
Before issuing the gag order this afternoon, the judge went over what happened Dec. 31, when Deputy Attorney General Matt Hart sent the motion to withdraw by Hubbard's lawyers to a reporter, even though it was filed under seal.
Walker later unsealed the motion, except for an attached exhibit that included the names of four grand jury witnesses.
Hart sent an email to the court and the defense apologizing after he said he realized the motion was sealed. Hart said the motion with the sealed exhibit was posted on Bill Britt's Alabama Political Reporter website for several minutes.
In issuing the gag order, Walker said he learned that the sealed exhibit was posted on the Internet before it was scanned into Alacourt, the website for public posting of court documents.
Walker said pretrial publicity can cause trials to be delayed if the court believes there is a need for a "calming down period."
The defense has sought dismissal of the case for prosecutorial misconduct and has previously accused prosecutors of leaking grand jury information. Hubbard attorney Bell filed a new motion on Wednesday asking the court to allow the defense to question Hart in a deposition.
Prosecutors filed an opposing motion saying that Hart's mistake had been acknowledged and that Hubbard's lawyers had made a comparable mistake in September when they failed to properly redact sealed information from a court filing.
Prosecutors also said disclosure of the names of four grand jury witnesses previously provided to the defense does not equate to revealing grand jury matters, although they said they would comply with a previous court order to keep grand jury witnesses' names under seal.
Walker scheduled a Jan. 26 hearing on defense request to depose Hart.
White and law partner Augusta Dowd talked to reporters after the judge approved their motion to withdraw. That was before Walker issued the gag order.
"I don't think you can have a better friend than Mike Hubbard," White said, choking up slightly. "I don't think there's been a person in my 42 years of practice who has been treated more cruelly and unfairly by the attorney general's office than Mike Hubbard."
White declined to say if the reason for withdrawal was related to Hubbard's ability to pay legal fees, saying he was obligated under rules of attorney-client privilege not to discuss that.
He referred to the reason for withdrawal as "a conflict of interest" but did not say what that meant.
Hubbard has paid the firm, at least partly, with campaign finance funds. Those payments total $256,475 since December 2013. But those payments have tapered off, with only $35,000 of that total paid since the start of last year.
White said his firm would fulfill its obligation to help the defense team through the transition.
White said the attorneys remaining on Hubbard's defense team were outstanding lawyers.
White said the case would not have been ready for trial had his firm remained on the case because of the number of pending motions.
A grand jury indicted Hubbard in October 2014, charging him with 23 felony ethics counts of using his public offices for personal gain.
He has pleaded not guilty.
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Mike Hubbard's lead defense law firm withdraws from case; judge issues gag order
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