- Bernd Debusmann Jr
- BBC News
2 hours
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Millions of viewers around the world tune in to watch the legal battle between two Hollywood heavyweights: Johnny Depp and Amber Heard.
As the drama unfolds, a new star grabs the spotlight: Camilla Vasquezfrom the actor’s legal defense team.
The California lawyer, of Latino origin, caught the attention of millions in the midst of the defamation lawsuit that her client filed against Heard.
Vasquez, 37, became an unexpected and unwitting co-star in the proceedings, winning over fans for her hard-hitting legal style.
T-shirts with his name and hashtags who praise her multiply on social networks.
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Camille Vasquez, Johnny Depp’s lawyer, was ruthless with Heard.
A two-minute video of Vasquez repeatedly interrupting Heard’s attorney to “object to it,” a legal term used for filing a formal protest in court, racked up over 27 million views on TikTok In a few days.
The viral clip even spawned parodies on social media, in which users “objected” to their friends and family in conversation. Added together, TikTok videos that use the hashtag #CamilleVasquez accumulate hundreds of millions of visits.
“I’m still a fan of Johnny Depp,” reads one of the many tweets about the case. “But now I’m also a huge fan of Camille Vasquez.”
Who is the lawyer that draws the attention of viewers who follow the trial?
lawful eagle
Born in San Francisco of Cuban and Colombian descent, Vasquez graduated in 2010 with a law degree from Southwestern Law School in Los Angeles.
since four years is an associate at Brown Rudnick, the high-profile law firm hired by Johnny Depp to represent him in his $50 million defamation case against Heard. She is one of nine attorneys from the firm involved in the trial.
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In 2021, she was appointed one of the lawyers One to Watch (someone to pay attention to) from the magazine Best Lawyer (“Best Lawyer”).
He specializes in litigation and arbitration, with an emphasis on defamation cases, as he is doing for Depp.
To her new followers, however, Vasquez is perhaps best known for her many objections and a series of tense exchanges with Heard.
During two days of cross-examination, Vasquez tried to cast doubt on Heard’s account of her troubled marriage to Depp in the hope that jurors would see inconsistencies in her claims.
“You’re the one who assaulted someone with a bottle in Australia, aren’t you, Mrs. Heard?” Vasquez asked in an exchange referencing a chaotic 2015 fight in Australia in which Heard alleges Depp sexually assaulted her. with a bottle.
“I wasn’t afraid of him at all, was I?”
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Amber Heard was in the state for four days.
Other memorable moments from the trial include Vasquez questioning Heard about the fate of $7 million previously committed to charity, accusing her of editing photos of herself with bruises and, in one case, suggesting that she owes her blockbuster in part. to Depp.
“Johnny Depp got you that role in Aquamanright?” Vasquez asked.
Model to follow, no?
Vasquez’s forceful defense of Depp also made her a topic of discussion within the # movement.MeToo against sexual abuse and harassment.
Some critics accused her of not believing Heard’s claims or discrediting her allegations of abuse.
“Thanks to Camille Vasquez for turning feminism back 50 years in less than two hours”said a Twitter user. “History will not remember you kindly.”
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Her supporters, on the other hand, praise her for what they see as standing up for the rights of male victims of domestic violence and as a potential role model.
Whether or not Vasquez’s popularity with Depp supporters translates into success in court remains to be seen, however.
“It’s hard to know if the reaction of the public on the internet is the same as what the jurors are having,” Halim Dhanidina, a lawyer and former judge, told The Associated Press. The Daily Beast.
However, Dhanidina said Vasquez’s popularity suggests the trial is an “uphill battle” for Heard.
“The public doesn’t like you, and they even like Johnny Depp’s lawyer better,” he said. “That has to bother you a bit.”
