Meghan Markle has reportedly let go of her original lawyer in her lawsuit against the tabloid Daily Mail. David Sherborne will no longer represent the Duchess of Sussex in succeeding trials over her data privacy breach claim.
According to Tatler, Justin Rushbrooke, QC, has been called in to represent the Duchess of Sussex in her legal fight with the tabloid. Meghan decided to fire Sherborne after he failed to represent the duchess during a pre-trial over the summer. Apparently, the celebrity lawyer was also taking care of Johnny Depp's defamation lawsuit against The Sun.
Sherborne also lost Meghan's the first pre-trial against the Daily Mail in May. The court ordered Prince Harry's wife to pay over $85,000 (£67,888) for the legal costs of that particular online hearing.
The lawyer had a track record for winning cases against the paparazzi and the tabloids. He famously represented Hugh Grant, J.K. Rowling, Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones, Sienna Miller, Harry Styles, Amy Winehouse and Diana, the Princess of Wales.
Despite his success, it was Rushbrooke who was at the new hearing of Meghan's case against the Daily Mail on Monday, Sept 21. The lawyer submitted a statement in court to re-affirm that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex did not have anything to do with the biography Finding Freedom.
The Guardian reported that Associated Newspapers, the publisher that owns Daily Mail, sought permission from the court to change its argument to state that the Sussex pair cooperated with the book's authors, Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand, in delivering a story that would favor their narrative.
The tabloid alleged that the Duchess of Sussex allowed other people close to her to provide information to the authors. This argument would support their claim that Meghan used five of her closest friends as her PR agents when they talked to People Magazine to defend her against her father, Thomas Markle.
Thomas gave Daily Mail copies of the letter Meghan wrote to him just before she got married to Prince Harry to apparently clear his name. But, Meghan sued Daily Mail for privacy breach when the tabloid printed the content of the letters.
Meanwhile, Scobie also submitted his written statement in court denying suggestions that the Sussexes collaborated for the book. He told the court he never interviewed Harry and Meghan for Finding Freedom.
Meghan's lawyer further argued that Daily Mail's claims are "conspiracy theories." He said that the tabloid has no concrete and factual evidence against the Duchess of Sussex.
