Johnny Depp’s attorney Camille Vasquez has gushed about being an “inspiration” to women thinking about going to law school after the jury sided with the actor in his defamation trial with Amber Heard.
Ms Vasquez spoke out on ABC’s Good Morning America on Wednesday morning where she told host George Stephanopoulos that it was “overwhelming” to have become an overnight social media star during the bombshell case.
“It’s been surreal and if I’m being honest a bit overwhelming,” she said.
“But if I can be an inspiration to young women that want to go to law school and study and work hard then it was all worth it.”
The attorney also dismissed suggestions – from both Ms Heard’s legal team and women’s rights groups – that the case marked a “setback” for women who speak up about alleged abuse.
“We’re only speaking about what happened in this case,” she said.
“We encourage any victim to come forward... domestic violence doesn’t have a gender.”
Ms Vasquez found herself at the centre of a bizarre fandom among Mr Depp’s supporters as she represented him in his successful civil case against his ex-wife Ms Heard.
Inside the courtroom, she was celebrated by Mr Depp’s fans for her tough cross-examination of Ms Heard, where she challenged her claims about being a victim of domestic abuse and sought to tear holes in her version of events.
Fan pages sprung up on social media for the firebrand attorney and online search for the attorney skyrocketed 4,350 per cent in a month, according to Google Trends.
Outside the courthouse in Fairfax, Virginia, Ms Vasquez was spotted greeting fans and the Alpacas that some had brought to the courthouse in support of Mr Depp.
Ms Vasquez was also asked about her overnight celebrity status by Savannah Guthrie on NBC’s Today show on Wednesday, with the presenter pointing to one fan who claimed to have gotten a tattoo of the attorney.
“It’s been overhwleming and surreal but to the extent that I can encourage young women to stay in school and pursue a legal career, it’s all worth it,” she said.
This week, Ms Vasquez was also promoted to a partner at the law firm Brown Rudnick.
Brown Rudnick’s chairman and CEO William Baldiga announced her promotion, crediting her work on the high-profile case.
“We are delighted to welcome Camille to the partnership,” he said.
“Historically, we have reserved this announcement for the end of our fiscal year. But Camille’s performance during the Johnny Depp trial proved to the world that she was ready to take this next step now.
“We are incredibly proud of her and look forward to what she will accomplish as our newest partner.”
Ms Vasquez also celebrated the news saying she was “delighted that Brown Rudnick has given me its full vote of confidence by having me join the partnership.
“I’m proud of the uniquely talented team I’ve had the privilege to lead, which exemplified teamwork and collaboration, and I look forward to continuing to represent Brown Rudnick’s culture of excellence,” she said in a statement.
Last week, Mr Depp won his defamation lawsuit against Ms Heard after a jury of seven determined that she had defamed him on all three counts in a 2018 op-ed for The Washington Post.
In the op-ed, Ms Heard described herself as a victim of domestic abuse and spoke of feeling “the full force of our culture’s wrath for women who speak out”.
Jurors awarded Mr Depp $10m in compensatory damages and $5m in punitive damages, before Fairfax County Circuit Judge Penney Azcarate reduced the latter to the state’s legal limit of $350,000.
Ms Heard won one of her three counterclaims against her ex-husband, with the jury finding that Mr Depp – via his lawyer Adam Waldman – defamed her by branding her abuse allegations “fake” and a “sexual violence hoax”.
She was awarded $2m in compensatory damages but $0 in punitive damages, leaving the Aquaman actress $8.35m out of pocket.
Ms Heard described the verdict as “a setback” for women who speak up with allegations of abuse and her attorney has already said she plans to appeal.
