Hollywood has its glamour, but it also has its ugly side and that ugliness has been has been plastered all across the walls in the courtroom trial of Johnny Depp and Amber Heard and from all this darkness, reveled between the two stars a new, fresh and feisty star has emerged. Its’ non-other than Camille Vasquez, Johnny Depp’s star attorney.
Vasquez, 37, is just one of a team of nine attorneys hired by Depp in his $100 million libel suit against ex-wife Heard. Vasquez has turned into somewhat of a star as these court proceedings have developed.
When she leaves the courthouse, she’s often greeted by fans yelling, “We love you, Camille!” video clips of her cross-examination of Heard have gone viral.
Over the course of the six plus weeks trial, Vasquez has generated admiration, respect and adulation, visible via the massive social media reactions to her and this case. Vasquez is being cited as an inspiration for Latinas with legal aspirations.
Renowned media personality Joe Rogan showered Johnny Depp’s lawyer Camille Vasquez with praise, saying she’s incredible at her job. The UFC color commentator and comedian on a recent episode of the Joe Rogan Experience podcast, discussed the Johnny Depp versus Amber Heard defamation case, which came to its conclusion on Friday. Rogan lauded the lawyer in his own words, saying: “She’s amazing. That lady is incredible. That woman’s a beast. When she’s questioning her [Heard] over whether or not she gave her money away, it’s amazing.”
Background
Born in San Francisco to Cuban and Colombian parents, Ms Vasquez is a 2006 graduate of the University of Southern California and in 2010 graduated from Southwestern Law School in Los Angeles.
For the last four years, she’s been an associate at Brown Rudnick, the high-profile law firm contracted by Johnny Depp to represent him in his $50m (£40m) defamation case against Ms Heard. She is one of nine attorneys from the firm involved in the trial.
In 2021, she was named one of Best Lawyer magazine’s ‘One to Watch’ attorneys.
She specializes in litigation and arbitration, with a focus on representing the plaintiffs in defamation cases – as she is doing for Mr Depp.
To her newfound supporters, however, Ms Vasquez is perhaps best known for her many objections and for a series of tense exchanges with Ms Heard.
Over two days of cross-examination, Ms Vasquez sought to cast doubt on Ms Heard’s account of her troubled marriage to Mr Depp in the hopes that jurors will see inconsistencies in her claims.
“You’re the one who assaulted someone with a bottle in Australia, isn’t that right, Ms Heard?” Ms Vasquez asked in one exchange referencing a chaotic 2015 fight in Australia, in which Ms Heard alleges that Mr Depp sexually assaulted her with a bottle. “You weren’t scared of him at all, were you?”
Other memorable court moments have included Ms Vasquez questioning Ms Heard about the fate of $7m previously pledged to charity, accusing her of editing photos of herself with bruises, and, in one case, suggesting that she partly owes her box office success to Mr Depp. “Johnny Depp got you that role in Aquaman, didn’t he?” Ms Vasquez asked.
Ms Vasquez’s spirited defense of Mr Depp has also made her a topic of discussion within the #MeToo movement against sexual abuse and harassment.
Some critics have accused her of not believing Ms Heard’s claims or discrediting her allegations of abuse.
“Shout out to Camille Vasquez for single-handedly setting feminism back 50 years in less than two hours,” one Twitter user said. “History won’t remember you kindly.”
Her supporters, on the other hand, have championed her standing up for the rights of male victims of domestic violence and as a potential role model. Whether or not Ms Vasquez’s popularity among supporters of Mr Depp translates to courtroom success, however, remains to be seen.
Ms Vasquez’s popularity suggests that the trial is an “uphill battle” for Ms Heard. “The public is not liking you – and even likes Johnny Depp’s lawyer more,” he said. “That has to mess with your head a little.”
