Lindsay Lohan -- New Year, New Assistant

Lindsay Lohan is all about fresh starts in 2012 -- not only is she close to wiping the slate clean with her legal troubles, she's got herself a new assistant ... TMZ has learned.

Sources close to Lindsay tell us she recently, and amicably, parted ways with her long suffering assistant Eleonore. We're told Eleonore couldn't keep up with Lindsay's hectic life.

Lindsay's new assistant -- a brave soul named Alexandra ... made her public debut at LiLo's probation hearing last week (above). We're told, at this point, she feels confident she can keep up with Linds.