Lisa Wilkinson’s attorney fires a warning shot – via pie – at all her legal detractors after winning a big win for a high-profile client ahead of her fight against Bruce Lehrmann
- Wilkinson hired defamation attorney Sue Chrysanthou
- Chrysanthou sent customer Heston Russell celebration cake
- Chocolate smash cake had the message ‘Be Rude, Get Sued’
A top defamation lawyer and the attorney who will represent Lisa Wilkinson in her upcoming legal battle against Bruce Lehrmann has fired a warning shot at all her future legal opponents: be rude, get sued.
Wilkinson won a Logie in June 2022 for her interview with Brittany Higgins, where the former Liberal Party staffer accused Lehrmann of raping her three years earlier.
Lehrmann has always denied Higgins’ allegations against him and in February launched a defamation suit against Wilkinson, Channel 10, news.com.au and her political editor Samantha Maiden.
Wilkinson was first represented by Thomson Greer, Channel 10’s legal team, but soon left the lawyers to instead hire lawyer Sue Chrysanthou SC, Gillis Delaney Lawyers and his partner Anthony Jefferies.
The powerful attorney has won a number of high-profile defamation cases in recent years, securing hefty payouts for former NSW Deputy Prime Minister John Barilaro, former Sydney Morning Herald columnist Clementine Ford and Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young.
Ms Chrysanthou’s most recent victory was for ex-army commando Heston Russell, who sued the ABC over 2021 articles linking him to alleged war crimes in Afghanistan.
Sue Chrysanthou SC sent the chocolate smash cake to her customer and ex-Army Commando Heston Russell (pictured left together) as a belated Christmas present. Mrs. Chrysanthou is hired by Lisa Wilkinson in her defamation battle against Bruce Lehrmann
Mrs. Chyrsanthou sent chocolate smash cakes to some of her customers as a belated Christmas present, including Mr. Russell.
Mr Russell won the first round of his libel battle against the ABC earlier this month.
He thanked Ms Chrysanthou and lawyer Rebekah Giles in an Instagram post shared over the weekend, showing him smashing the chocolate cake open with a hammer.
The cake was decorated with a small sign that read ‘Be rude, get sued’.
Breaking the summer shred regime with a belated Christmas present from the baddest Boss-B* lawyer in the country, he captioned the video, alongside a photo of him and Ms. Chrysanthou.
“Extra credit to Rebekah G for being the Solicitor Supreme behind the scenes and also demonstrating her slow-mo camera skills,” the post continued, adding the hashtags “#BeRude” and “#GetSued.”
Mr. Russell’s lawyers won their first case in Federal Court on Feb. 1 after Judge Michael Lee found a number of ABC stories about the former soldier defamatory.
The case will now go to federal court in March.
Earlier this month, it was revealed that Wilkinson had dropped her lawyers at Network 10 and hired a new legal team to defend her during the high-profile defamation case against Bruce Lehrmann.
It was revealed earlier this month that Wilkinson (pictured with Brittany Higgins) had dropped her lawyers at Network 10 and hired a new legal team to defend her during the high-profile defamation case against Bruce Lehrmann
Lehrmann is suing the network over an interview aired on The Project in February 2021 where former Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins first alleged to Wilkinson that she was raped by ‘a male colleague’ in Parliament House in 2019.
According to a claim filed in Federal Court on Feb. 7, Mr. Lehrmann will allege that Channel 10 and Wilkinson were “reckless indifference to truth or falsehood” when the allegations against him were made.
Channel 10’s lawyers at Thomson Geer filed papers saying they would represent Wilkinson, but new papers filed less than a day later said the scheme had ended.
Federal court documents have since indicated that Wilkinson would instead be represented by Gillis Delaney Lawyers and his partner Anthony Jefferies.
She also adopted Mrs. Chrysanthou.
Ms Chrysanthou has a long list of high-profile clients and was behind the huge $2.9 million payment The Daily Telegraph was forced to pay Australian actor Geoffrey Rush after he won his 2018 defamation case against the Sydney newspaper.
The lawyer is also acting for Lachlan Murdoch after he brought defamation proceedings against Private Media, the publisher of Crikey, about an article from July last year.
Mr. Lehrmann has always denied the allegations against him