Johnny Depp's Attorney Joins NBC News

Johnny Depp's attorney Camille Vasquez has joined NBC News as as a legal analyst. Deadline reports that the famed attorney made her first appearance in the role on Monday. She was a guest on the Today show, offering analysis on the arrest and murder charges facing Bryan Kohberger, who is accused of stabbing four University of Idaho students to death in their sleep.

Vasquez is a lawyer with the Brown Rudnick law firm and is a partner in her firm's litigation & arbitration practice group, as well as being co-chair of the firm's brand & reputation management group. In June 2022, she worked on Depp's legal team in his defamation lawsuit against ex-wife Amber Heard. A jury found that Heard did defame Depp in a 2018 Washington Post op-ed about domestic abuse, and awarded the Edward Scissorhands actor more than $10 million. However, they also awarded Heard $2 million in a separate claim, finding that Depp's lawyer, Adam Waldman, defamed her in return.

The case finally came to a complete close in December when Heard announced that she'd decided to settle with Depp over the outcome of the case. In a statement shared by Deadline, Depp's attorneys expressed satisfaction over the outcome. They also pointed out that Depp plans to donate any monetary compensation to charity.

"We are pleased to formally close the door on this painful chapter for Mr. Depp, who made clear throughout this process that his priority was about bringing the truth to light," the legal team stated. "The jury's unanimous decision and the resulting judgement in Mr. Depp's favor against Ms. Heard remain fully in place. The payment of $1M – which Mr. Depp is pledging and will (actually) donate to charities – reinforces Ms. Heard's acknowledgment of the conclusion of the legal system's rigorous pursuit for justice."

Depp's legal statement comes after Heard revealed that she has made the "difficult" decision to settle the legal matter definitively. In a lengthy statement posted to her Instagram page, Heard wrote, "After a great deal of deliberation I have made a very difficult decision to settle the defamation case brought against me by my ex-husband in Virginia."

The actress continued, "It's important for me to say that I never chose this. I defended my truth and in doing so my life as I knew it was destroyed. The vilification I have faced on social media is an amplified version of the ways in which women are re-victimised when they come forward. Now I finally have an opportunity to emancipate myself from something I attempted to leave over six years ago and on terms I can agree to. I have made no admission. This is not an act of concession. There are no restrictions or gags with respect to my voice moving forward."