Lindsay Lohan grateful as probation ends

A Los Angeles judge ended probation on Lindsay Lohan's 2007 drunken driving convictions Thursday and changed her shoplifting probation from formal to informal, requiring no monthly check-ins with an officer.

"She's done everything that this court has asked of her," Superior Court Judge Stephanie Sautner said of the actress, 25, who was raised in Merrick and Cold Spring Harbor. Lohan, who has completed her community service at the county morgue, no longer will report to a probation officer or attend progress-report hearings as long as she breaks no law through May 2014.

"The only terms left for you on that [shoplifting] case is to obey all laws," Sautner told the "Mean Girls" star. Saying she understood the difficulties of living a life in the spotlight, the judge nonetheless noted that "that's the life you chose."

She told Lohan, "[You] . . . need to live your life a more mature way, stop your nightclubbing and focus on your work."

Lohan thanked the judge at the end of the roughly 12-minute hearing, telling Sautner that her court experiences "really opened a lot of doors for me, and I really appreciate it."

Her attorney, Shawn Chapman Holley, said, "I want to thank the court and both . . . [prosecutors] just for being fair with us."

Lohan's spokesman, Steve Honig, who attended the hearing, told Newsday, "Lindsay is looking forward to closing this chapter and starting the next. She is getting ready to dive into her next few projects and get back to work."

SEE PHOTOSLindsay Lohan in court

TMZ reported that Lohan cleared another legal hurdle Thursday, as she was granted a Canadian work permit allowing her to shoot the TV movie "Liz and Dick" in Toronto. Lohan plays film icon Elizabeth Taylor in the Lifetime telefilm.