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Millions of viewers around the world tune in to follow the legal battle between two Hollywood heavyweights: Johnny Depp and Amber Heard.
As the drama unfolds, a new star takes the spotlight: Camille Vasquezby the actor’s legal defense team.
The California attorney of Hispanic descent caught the attention of millions amid her client’s defamation lawsuit against Heard.
Vasquez, 37, became an unexpected and unwitting co-star in the proceedings, winning fans over for her forceful legal style.
T-shirts with their names and hashtags promoting them are proliferating on social media.
EPA Camille Vasquez, Johnny Depp’s attorney, was reckless with Heard.
A two-minute video of Vasquez repeatedly interrupting Heard’s attorney to issue him “objections,” a legal term used for filing a formal protest in court, was skyrocketed over 27 million views on TikTok In a few days.
The viral clip has even spawned parodies on social media, with users “raising objections” while talking to their friends and family. Collectively, TikTok videos with the hashtag #CamilleVasquez get hundreds of millions of views.
“I’m still a fan of Johnny Depp,” says one of the many tweets about the case. “But now I’m also a die-hard Camille Vasquez fan.”
Who is the lawyer who catches the attention of viewers watching the trial?
rightful eagle
Born in San Francisco of Cuban and Colombian descent, Vasquez graduated from Southwestern Law School in Los Angeles with a law degree in 2010.
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 lawyers from the law firm involved in the process.
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In 2021 she was named one of the One to Watch Lawyers by Best Lawyer Magazine.
He specializes in litigation and arbitration, with a focus on defamation cases, as he does for Depp.
However, Vasquez is perhaps best known to her new followers for her many objections and a series of tense conversations with Heard.
During two days of cross-examination, Vasquez attempted to challenge Heard’s account of her troubled marriage to Depp, hoping the jury would find inconsistencies in her claims.
“You’re the one who attacked someone in Australia with a bottle, aren’t you, Mrs. Heard?” Vasquez asked in an exchange that alluded to a chaotic fight in 2015 in Australia in which Heard claimed Depp had her sexually assaulted with a bottle.
“You weren’t scared of him at all, were you?”
EPA 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 given 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 Aquaman, didn’t he?” Vasquez asked.
Role model or not?
Vasquez’s vigorous defense of Depp also made her a topic of discussion within the #MeToo movement against sexual abuse and harassment.
Some critics have accused her of disbelieving Heard’s claims or discrediting her abuse allegations.
«Thanks to Camille Vasquez for taking feminism back 50 years in less than two hours»said a Twitter user. “History will not remember you well.”
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Her supporters, on the other hand, praise her for advocating for the rights of male victims of domestic violence and for being a potential role model.
It remains to be seen whether Vasquez’s popularity with Depp supporters will translate into success in court.
“It’s hard to tell if the online public’s reaction will match that of the jury,” Halim Dhanidina, a lawyer and former judge, told 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 likes Johnny Depp’s lawyer even more,” he said. “That must bother you a bit.”
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