Two short months ago, Camille Vasquez was an unknown defamation litigator from San Francisco with more than a decade’s experience practicing law – hardly the kind of person you’d expect to become an overnight internet sensation. Now Vasquez is enjoying the spoils of victory alongside the follies of newfound fame.
Vasquez was promoted from associate to partner this week at the Southern California office of Brown Rudnick, the international law firm that represented Johnny Depp. Her promotion came just days after the jury awarded Depp a stunning $15 million victory over ex-wife Amber Heard.
“It’s been surreal,” Vasquez said Wednesday on “Good Morning America.” “If I’m being honest, a bit overwhelming. But if I can be an inspiration to young women who want to go to law school and study and work hard, then I’m all for it.”
Vasquez can in part thank her fiery exchanges with Heard for all the attention – the two swashbuckled on multiple occasions when Heard was on the stand. Vasquez said Depp made a “connection” with the jury, while Heard struggled to square her own words on cross-examination.
“I think that her impression on the jury was … what it was!” Vasquez said. “Something that we focused on in cross-exam was using her words against her. Every question we asked was tied to something she said previously. And I think the jury got to see, and the world got to see and hear from Ms. Heard.”
Heard’s team snarled that Depp’s lawyers were taking a “victory lap” in the days following the verdict – and Vasquez needed only to point at the scoreboard.
“It’s disappointing,” she said. “We’re only speaking about what happened in this case, and the facts in this case were overwhelmingly positive for Johnny.”
Vasquez, who grew up in San Francisco, graduated with honors from the University of Southern California and got her law degree fro Southwestern Law School in Los Angeles. After just four years at Brown Rudnick, she was made partner – and a big, public, live-streamed victory for a major client may have had something to do with it.
“We are delighted to welcome Camille to the partnership,” Brown Rudnick chair and CEO William Baldiga said in a statement. “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.”
