25 June 2022
Her power suits, biting cross-examination and courtroom giggles with Depp thrust Spanish-speaking attorney Camille Vasquez into the global spotlight, earning her fame and promotion.
Just 12 weeks ago she was a virtual unknown outside of legal circles, but the Johnny Depp-Amber Heard six-week $50m bombshell defamation trial changed all that. Today, Spanish-speaking attorney Camille Vasquez, 37, is a household name around the world. Not only did she become a TikTok sensation, she inspired fans to print I heart Camille t-shirts and some got inked Vasquez tattoos. Posts worldwide tagged #CamilleVasquez and #CamilleVasquezForPresident around the world as 500 million people tuned in to watch her courtroom skills via livestream thanks to the Law and Crime network via its YouTube channel.
So, who is Camille Vasquez?
Born in July 1984 to a family of Colombian-Cuban descent, her Colombia father Leonel Leonel Vasquez and her Cuban mother María Marilia Puentes live in Buena Park in Orange County, and raised Camille and her sister Shari, now a medical professional, in California.
As a Californian lawyer, she is tenacious and straight-talking, which has earned her a legion of die-hard fans, including a prominent attorney who told the New York Post she was the “unrivalled star” of the trial. Vasquez specialises in litigation and arbitration and is among the hottest in her field. At 5ft 4 inches, what she lacks in height she makes up for in astuteness and ability, graduating magna cum laude in 2006 with a B.A. degree in political science and communication from the University of Southern California. She worked closely with Depp for around 4.5 years before the defamation trial but it was winning the case that upped professional standing by stratospheric proportions, earning a promotion to partner at prestigious law firm Brown Rudnick.
Vasquez’s on-screen “chemistry” with Depp triggered a tsunami of speculation that the pair were dating, a rumour sources were quick to shut down. She does, in fact, have a long-term British boyfriend, Edward Owen aged 38, who she is rumoured to have met in a London pub. In addition to Johnny Depp, the hotshot attorney has also represented other celebrities like Jennifer Lopez, Leonardo DiCaprio and Ben Affleck.
Fluent in Spanish and English, Vasquez won the Best Lawyers in America award for Ones to Watch, Commercial Litigation for 2021-2022. Since the trial, a dedicated hashtag #camillevasquezforpresident pulls up dozens of posts on Instagram, with videos of a smiling Vasquez next to a frowning Heard. There are also montages of Depp and Vasquez sharing glances across the courtroom, touches and hugs after cross-examining, and chuckles outside court - with hundreds of thousands of fan “likes” and hearts on each. The trial might be over but we are unlikely to seen the last of Camille Vasquez. Indeed the call for her to run for presidency is gathering strength, so watch out for her in a White House bid.
