Friday 20 May 2022 09:25 PM Camille Vasquez landed role of lifetime after the legal team decided against ... trends now

She is the glamorous junior attorney who has stolen the limelight at Johnny Depp's epic $50million defamation trial with her meticulous cross-examination of Amber Heard.

But budding legal star Camille Vasquez, 37, was only handed the leading role at the last moment when Depp's team vetoed a plan to have well-known TV 'super lawyer' Kathleen Zellner grill his ex-wife, DailyMail.com can exclusively reveal.

The Pirates of the Caribbean actor, 58, hired Zellner of Making a Murderer fame in February after binge-watching episodes of the hit Netflix show in which she battles to clear convicted killer Steven Avery.

With her decades of success in overturning wrongful convictions, Depp felt Zellner, 64, had the gravitas and experience to pick holes in Heard's evidence.

But DailyMail.com understands his existing legal team led by experienced attorney Ben Chew cautioned against integrating Zellner into the complicated case at the eleventh hour – and the job went instead to Vasquez, an associate at Chew's high-profile law firm Brown Rudnick. 

The Californian native has been widely praised for her forensic cross examination of Heard who is accused of defaming her famous actor ex in a 2018 Washington Post op-ed describing herself as a domestic abuse survivor.

Vasquez also sparked feverish gossip online over her supposed close connection with Depp and their 'flirty' body language, though reports suggest their relationship is strictly professional – and she already has a boyfriend.

'Johnny became aware of Kathleen Zellner while watching Making a Murderer and was really impressed by her,' dished a source.

'The plan was always to have a female attorney cross-examine Amber and that was why Zellner was brought into the case, she had the star power and the big reputation.

'But in reality, the decision to bring her in was taken way too late and there was no way she could have gotten up to speed in such a short space of time. 

'Vasquez is not exactly a rookie, but it's unusual to have an associate taking charge in such a huge case. But she knew the evidence inside out and has done a great job.'

Orange County, California–based Vasquez specializes in defamation cases and was hailed 'One to Watch' by The Best Lawyers in America for 2021-2022.

She's known Depp since 2017 when he hired Brown Rudnick for lawsuits against his ex business manager Joel Mandel and former attorney Jake Bloom.

Vasquez was thrust into the spotlight this week while doggedly cross-examining Heard, 36, in one memorable exchange forcing the Aquaman actress to admit she had not donated her $7million divorce settlement to charity as she had pledged.

Vasquez and Heard also sparred over her shocking claim that Depp violated his former spouse with a liquor bottle during a March 2015 fight.

'You're the one who assaulted someone with a bottle in Australia, isn't that right Miss Heard?' Vasquez pressed. 'You weren't scared of him at all were you?'

Her performance did not go unnoticed by Zellner, who tweeted on May 17: 'Camille Vasquez is the unrivaled star of the Depp trial. Her measured tone, incisive questions, total command of the facts and clear belief in her client are laudable.'

Vasquez was born in July 1984 to parents Leonel and Marilia Vasquez. They live in a $1million home in Buena Park, and her dad once owned a UPS Store in Anaheim.

Vasquez graduated from the University of Southern California with a bachelor's degree in arts, communications and political science in 2006 magna cum laude.

She went to Southwestern Law School in Los Angeles from 2007 to 2010 and carved out a promising career before joining Brown Rudnick, which has at least nine lawyers working on Depp's case. 

Vasquez and

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