Keynote Speaker Camille Vasquez (State Bar of Texas Annual Meeting 2024)

Episode Notes

Transcript

Rocky Dhir:

Hello, and welcome to another episode of the State Bar of Texas podcast. We are recording live from our state bar annual meeting in Dallas, Texas. This is your host, Rocky Dhir Joining me now we have a bit of a celebrity. You might’ve heard the name Camille Vasquez, and if you’re scratching your head saying, where have I heard that name? She was Johnny Depp’s lawyer during that whole legal thing with Amber Heard. And so she’s joining us here. She’s going to be one of our speakers, but she’s taken a few minutes out to come talk to us. So Camille, welcome.

Camille Vasquez:

Thank you. Hi, Rocky, how are you?

Rocky Dhir:

Hi. Oh man, it’s great. Actually, I should correct myself. You agreed to be on the State Bar of Texas Podcast and then you just happened to be speaking at the Bar Leader’s Luncheon. Am I right? We got priority. So look, first of all, welcome to Dallas.

Camille Vasquez:

Thank you.

Rocky Dhir:

So great to have you here. So that whole thing kind of catapulted you into fame pretty quickly, right? I mean, what’s that been like? Suddenly you were just a lawyer one day and now suddenly you’re on the news and there’s all these rumors swirling around about you and everybody wants to make gossip. What was that like for you?

Camille Vasquez:

It was bizarre and at times a bit overwhelming, but all in all, I’m still a lawyer. I love being a lawyer. It my favorite thing to do. I’m sorry.

Rocky Dhir:

Yeah, Lord. Oh man.

Camille Vasquez:

I love being in court. It’s my favorite thing to do. So I’m just a lucky person that gets to do what I love to do for a living. And yes, with a bit more fanfare, I guess, than maybe it was like for me prior to the Depp v. Heard case.

Rocky Dhir:

So how did you get assigned to that case? There must have been a story there. How’d you land the gig?

Camille Vasquez:

How did I land the gig? And let me just start off by saying that I apologize for my voice. I’ve been fighting a cold for the last couple days, but I’m not contagious wearing don’t worry Rocky.

Rocky Dhir:

I’m going to leave right now.

Camille Vasquez:

Not contagious. So how did I land the gig? That’s a great question. I was working for Johnny for about five years prior to the Depp v. Heard case. And the way that that happened is I happened to be the only female associate that was put on the team when he first initiated an action against his former business managers. And through that engagement, I got to know him personally. And so when he thought about bringing this action against his ex-wife, Amber heard, he mentioned it to me, and I actually wasn’t a big proponent of the idea of a defamation action. He’s a really private person. And so

Rocky Dhir:

That kind of brings it all out in the open. Now it does. As we saw in court,

Camille Vasquez:

As everyone saw in court, yes. It puts your name, your reputation at issue. Sure. Anyways, I said to him as much, and he said something that has stuck with me forever. He asked me if I had ever been accused of something that I had not done myself. And we thought about that for a second and I said to him, “No, I don’t think I have.” And he said, “Talk to me once you have.”

Rocky Dhir:

Wow.

Camille Vasquez:

And it’s so poignant.

Rocky Dhir:

Did he at least say forget about it? That would’ve been, would’ve made the whole thing.

Camille Vasquez:

He Called me kid though. At the end of it. He’s like, talk to me once you have kid. All right. Yeah, that’s exactly how he said it.

Rocky Dhir:

I would pay money to have John Depp call me kid. Really? Oh yeah, that’d be great.

Camille Vasquez:

Well, I’m sure that could be arranged.

Rocky Dhir:

Let’s do it. Let’s do it. Let’s get him on the podcast like, Hey, kid. And then just walk away.

Camille Vasquez:

Just walk away. Okay. It’s two seconds.

Rocky Dhir:

Absolutely. Now I know everybody now kind of thinks of you as this high profile lawyer who represented Johnny Depp. It wasn’t always that way though. I mean, you had a bit of a journey getting here. I did. So I think you and I have something in common. We’re both the children of immigrants. And so where does your parents immigrate from?

Camille Vasquez:

My mom is Cuban. Okay. And my father is Colombian, actually.

Rocky Dhir:

Oh, Wow. Okay.

Camille Vasquez:

They met in California learning to speak English.

Rocky Dhir:

No way.

Camille Vasquez:

Yeah, at an ESL class. And then I call myself an ESL kid because I actually, Spanish was my first language, and I didn’t learn to speak English until I started school.

Rocky Dhir:

Okay. So you grew up speak. Do you still speak in Spanish? Is that I

Camille Vasquez:

Don’t think in Spanish. And I’ve probably lost more in my Spanish. My poor grandmother is like, hi, Nina, you lost your Spanish.

Rocky Dhir:

This would be your iota. That’s what I’m talking about.

Camille Vasquez:

There you go.

Rocky Dhir:

Don’t underestimate the Indian kid. No, you probably, we can spell in every language.

Camille Vasquez:

That’s amazing.

Rocky Dhir:

Yeah. So now growing up in that household, what led to you becoming an attorney? I mean, I know education was important in your household,

Camille Vasquez:

But very important.

Rocky Dhir:

But what made you decide, all right, I’m going to be a lawyer?

Camille Vasquez:

Well, I joke, but it’s not really a joke that my parents gave my sister and me two options, doctor or lawyer, pick one.

Rocky Dhir:

Your parents are Indian. This is great. I didn’t even know that. Wow. Okay.

Camille Vasquez:

They’re immigrants. And as you know, education professions, my mom would often say to us, especially as young girls, you need to have a profession in life. And we’re not leaving you with much, but we are leaving you with your education in your profession. And that’s something that no one can ever take away from you. Sure. So they got one of each happily I can report

Rocky Dhir:

A doctor and a lawyer.

Camille Vasquez:

My sister is a pediatrician in Los Angeles, and I’m the lawyer because I wasn’t great at math and science.

Rocky Dhir:

So if you have a doctor and a lawyer and they’re, they’re your daughters, they can marry whomever they want at this point. You’ve achieved the gold medal. This is great.

Camille Vasquez:

Yeah. I joke. They’re very proud, my parents. But they’re broke after through

Rocky Dhir:

School, broken and broke, I’m sure. With two daughters. Okay. So walk us through your legal career. You have college, you have law school, and then what was the beginning of your career that led to you getting to Brown and Rudnick and getting to this point where you’re now on the national news?

Camille Vasquez:

I started out as an associate at a big firm, but a firm that did insurance work. Sure. And those are the type of places, at least from my experience, where they kind of throw you in the deep end. Right. I mean, I did my first deposition, my first year of practice, I did my first trial within three years of practice. So I’m sure there were a lot of things I learned that were great. And then there were probably habits or things that I learned that weren’t so great that needed to be improved upon. But what it did teach me was confidence. And it did show me as well that I really love being in the Courtroom. I think a lot of people don’t like that. Right. There’s different type of lawyers obviously in the world, but I really enjoyed being in the Courtroom. So for me, that’s what that experience showed me. And then from there, I actually thought about leaving the law, if you can believe it. I was a little

Rocky Dhir:

Bit, I’m thinking about that right now actually. It’s funny you should mention,

Camille Vasquez:

Well, I thought about maybe leaving law firm life. I reached a point in my career maybe about five years in where I was thinking how do I kind of pivot to maybe working? And I started doing employment law because I figured there were a lot of employment in-house lawyers at companies. So I started doing that. And again, that was great experience because I got to do a lot of mediations and arbitrations and deal with employee on doing advice and counsel, which I also really enjoy as well. But then I was kind of handpicked to join a partner that was joining Brown Redneck from my firm. And the rest is sort of history. I landed at Brown Redneck Ben Chu, my now partner had brought the first depth case over from Manat, and they were being run out of California offices. And I was the associate that was put on the team. So that’s how it all started.

Rocky Dhir:

Now, let’s talk brass tacks for a second, because all of this is interesting to know about you, but in terms of what you’ve learned or what you can impart to other lawyers. So I bet there was a lot of preparation that went into cross-examining Amber Heard, which was a very famous, it’s now become a very famous moment. What have you learned about cross-examination technique that you think, because everybody talks about how as lawyers, were losing the art of trial work because so few cases go before a jury anymore. That’s true. What have you learned, or what can you impart about preparing for cross-examination?

Camille Vasquez:

Well, I think first and foremost, lawyers, especially trial lawyers, they’re storytellers. And you have to remember that. So whether it’s a direct examination where the client really is the star and you don’t want, the lawyer should be in the background, the questions should be secondary to what the jury’s actually listening to. Versus cross-examination where the lawyer actually needs to take

Rocky Dhir:

Stage, take center stage, stage.

Camille Vasquez:

Absolutely. Exactly right. It almost doesn’t matter what the witness’s answers are in cross-examination. How you weave in the story through the questions is actually the art of cross-examination. And I think you also have to listen though. You have to listen. There are times that the witness will give you nuggets of great information. And how you capitalize on those moments is I think what really differentiates a great lawyer from a good lawyer, you have to listen to the answers, even though they’re not as important necessarily.

Rocky Dhir:

It’s easy sometimes to just get caught up and keep question after question after question. You just,

Camille Vasquez:

You’re trying to land your questions and you’re trying to make your point. But you have to listen because there were many opportunities where even a pause, pause between the questionings made an impact because I wanted the jury to listen to that answer. And then there were points where she gave me something really good where I followed up on that answer. And again, those were key moments in proving our case. So obviously preparation, there’s no substitute for hard work, and every trial lawyer knows that you have to be the most prepared person in the room. And then something that I’ll say that, I wouldn’t say it’s controversial, but I don’t feel like enough lawyers do this. But you have to think like the other side. You have to look at the evidence objectively, even though you’re the strongest advocate for your client. But if you don’t look at the evidence from the other side’s perspective, you’re doing a huge disservice to your client. I believed Johnny Depp, and I still do. And I know that evidence backwards and forwards inside and out. And I know that he did not do this. I still had to look at the evidence objectively and test him on it because he was going to be tested on the same evidence. And a jury is never going to know the case as well as you do. So you have to do that to be able to identify the weaknesses in the evidence.

Rocky Dhir:

Interesting. Okay. One final question, I suppose. Yes. Before we wrap up and let you go and meet your throngs of fans here in Dallas. But one final question, everything I’ve heard from you so far is about how your career has led to a couple of moments that helped shape where you are, right? You were the only female on the team. So Johnny brings you onto this case. You were the only associate in the California offices. There’s that moment that comes where success kind of knocks at your door. Opportunity knocks. How do you know when that moment has arrived versus just overlooking it? I mean, I think so many of us think that there may have been a moment that could have changed our lives, and we just did not know it was there. Did you know it was happening when it happened to you?

Camille Vasquez:

No, I didn’t. I mean, I call it earned luck. I really do. I mean earned, because you have to work really hard because the moment will come, whether it’s partnership, whether it’s that case, whether it’s a certain witness in a trial that you’re participating in, it doesn’t matter. But there will always be a moment, as you said, and I don’t think it will pass you by if it’s meant to be your moment. But to answer your question, did I know that it was happening? No. I mean, we were so busy and buried with the amount of work, and I can’t emphasize enough that this was very much a team effort, I’m sure. Yeah. And the fact that I knew I had at least two people dedicated to that cross-examination just as much and invested into it as much as I was, we would call ourselves the tripod, Jessica Myers and Sam monies, and they were following along every step of the way. They were ready to impeach, misheard. They were ready with the evidence that I needed. And to know that I had them following along. I mean, that’s priceless. So very much a moment for the team, obviously a moment for me, but we were so busy working on it that it wasn’t going to pass us by. But I’m glad it happened the way it happened, because Johnny deserved that. He deserved that win. He deserved to have his name cleared. And that’s, at the end of the day, the only thing that matters.

Rocky Dhir:

Well, congratulations on not only the win, but on your successes so far. I’m sure there’ll be more. Thank you. And of course, I’m going to leave you with the rhetorical question, which is, what has been the greatest moment in your career, and why was it appearing on the State Bar of Texas podcast? Yes. Yes.

Camille Vasquez:

That’s why we call a leading question.

Rocky Dhir:

Yes. Yes it is. Yes it is. But I don’t even care what the answer is. I just want the jury to hear the question.

Camille Vasquez:

That’s right. Exactly. Well done.

Rocky Dhir:

So Camille, unfortunately, that is all the time we have for this installment of the State Bar of Texas podcast. And so I want to thank you for joining us, and thank you. Absolutely. And of course, I want to thank our guests for listening in and listen. If you enjoyed what you heard, please rate and review us. An Apple podcast, Google Podcast, Spotify, Amazon Music, wherever you get your podcast. We’d love to have you engage with us. I’m Rocky Dhir, your host. Until next time, thanks for listening. We’ll see you soon.

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