Camille Vasquez is the American lawyer who defended actor Johnny Depp in the trial against his ex-wife Amber Heard. Heard had accused Depp of abuse and domestic violence. In a very public court case, Vasquez drew attention to himself and emerged from the media spectacle as an “overnight star” alongside the two ailing Hollywood stars. She won the case for Johnny Depp – and was promoted to partner in her law firm.
Camille Vasquez is a small woman — she stands in front of me with high heels and comes up to my nose, she is maybe 1.60 meters tall. But what she lacks in size, she makes up for in presence; during our interview, but especially in the courtroom.
On one of the days that Amber Heard was on the witness stand for cross-examination, her lawyer was standing at the desk questioning her client. In about 20 minutes, Vasquez objected to Elaine Bredehoft’s questions 49 times, making questioning completely impossible. She was visibly desperate, snorted and said: “I’ll try!” “I felt for her at that moment,” Camille Vasquez confesses to me later in the interview. Bredehoft was ridiculed online and left her law firm and Amber Heard’s legal team after the trial; Vasquez, on the other hand, was promoted to partner at her law firm, Brown Rudnick. A real Vasquez fan club formed: One user wrote on X (formerly Twitter) that he had always been a Johnny Depp fan, but was now “a die-hard Vasquez fan.”
Google Trends saw a significant increase in searches for her name, and a hashtag of her name received over 980 million views on Tiktok. Vogue called her an “overnight celebrity.”Bredehoft is a renowned lawyer, Vasquez was rather inexperienced. Her team, she fondly says, was a “bunch of kids.” She deliberately gathered primarily young lawyers around her. “This case took place at a time when the Me Too movement was present; It was partly about social media, it was about Hollywood stars. It was a case involving domestic violence and sexual abuse allegations. We younger people have very strong opinions on these issues, which is right. We wanted to have different perspectives from people working on these topics. We were closer and were able to tell the story in an effective way,” said Vasquez.Camille Vasquez was definitely considered the one who had a firm grip on the narrative of this story.
The 39-year-old always seemed confident and almost relaxed despite the tense situation. She and the team seemed to be constantly exchanging looks and comments. “I wasn’t alone, that helped me enormously” — especially when a situation arose with Amber Heard where she became emotional herself, she says. “I knew she was lying to my face because I knew the evidence inside and out. At that moment it felt like ‘Heard against me’ — very personal.” So Vasquez also loses her cool. What helped her at that moment was a note from a colleague: “Take a breath and then ask her how she is doing!” Vasquez decided not to ask this question because she “didn’t find it sincere. And that’s what I’ve always tried to do in this process — to be honest. The jury senses that.
”There was a lot at stake, not only for the two actors, but also for Vasquez and her team. Vasquez was a young lawyer who represented a Hollywood star before the eyes of the world. It was about millions, it was about his reputation. Everyone who saw the trial knew Amber Heard, no one knew Camille Vasquez. And then there were the rumors that she and Johnny Depp were in a romantic relationship. The pressure grew noticeably as soon as the media got them on the radar. “The accusation is sexist. Johnny and I worked together,” Vasquez says today.
She and the actor were seen very familiar with each other in some moments: they hugged each other, they glanced at each other or she held his hand. Vasquez: “For me it was about reassuring my client in distress”; She is a very emotional and “touchy person”. Getting Johnny Depp into the right mindset and encouraging him was very important. The whole group was welded together by a common vision.
“We were focused on the common goal that we must win this case. There were no other options. We had to win. We worked tirelessly, and I think part of it was the fear that we would embarrass ourselves in public. But we didn’t want to disappoint him either. We knew he only had one chance and that was it. That was a huge motivating factor for all of us, bonding us together and keeping us awake at night.”The fact that it was a public trial also changed the dynamic.
The media, the world, the fans watched them at work. What was Amber Heard’s downfall was helped by Johnny Depp’s team: They were shown a lot of kindness from outside — nice emails, messages supporting them and deliveries of donuts. “People even sent me money through Venmo so we could buy a coffee, and yeah, there was just so much support and kindness from his fans and from people who became our fans and to that “believed in what we were doing as a team,” says Vasquez. But what she doesn’t want to do now is to become the one who «knocks out men,» says the lawyer.
The case certainly earned her this reputation, and that’s not always easy. On Twitter she was accused of having set feminism back 20 years in just a few minutes.She is a role model for many, because as a child of immigrants she has come a long way. Her parents come from Cuba and Colombia, and she is the first in her family to be born in the USA. She says she hopes she inspires other Latinas trying to establish themselves in their field.
“I was able to accomplish something on a national stage even though I might not have been considered the first choice for the position,” Vasquez said in a recent interview with Hispanic Executive magazine.
“I got the job because I was the most suitable person for it. I worked the hardest and was the most prepared. I hope my example shows that if you work hard and find opportunities, you will have the opportunity.”Vasquez continued:
“I feel a great sense of responsibility towards the young people who still come to me almost every day. I didn’t expect it like that. I’m so glad I was able to show them that you can achieve anything you put your mind to. It doesn’t matter what your last name is; It doesn’t matter whether you went to an elite university or not. Nothing limits you! And that’s something my parents taught my sister and me: ‘You can achieve anything; You can achieve anything in this country. If you put your mind to it, you can achieve it.’ I’m so grateful to my parents for teaching me that.”
What’s next for Camille Vasquez? She is now being photographed by paparazzi and printed in magazines like her former client — with a Starbucks cup in her hand, on the phone, shopping. But actually she just wants to continue her job. Her area of expertise is libel litigation. She also has experience litigating contract disputes, corporate torts and employment law issues. “I feel blessed that I can make money doing what I love. I am someone who truly believes in my customers and wants to help them. I’m a very principled person, and that’s why I’m very happy when I look in the mirror and see a lawyer.» She has wanted to be a lawyer since she was little — she considers it a great honor to see someone in the worst situation All his life he would come to her and say, “I trust you to be my voice in a courtroom, in a hearing room. You are the person I ask to help me solve this problem.” “It is a great honor and privilege to be chosen and to be an advocate for the people,” says Vasquez, summing up her appointment.
Camille Vasquez, born July 6, 1984, is a partner in the Litigation and Arbitration Practice Group and co-chair of the Brand and Reputation Management Group at Brown Rudnick Law Firm. Her current practice focuses on plaintiff-side defamation suits.
