Lisa Wilkinson’s lawyer Sue Chrysanthou gifts client Heston Russell cake reading ‘be Rude, get Sued’

A top defamation lawyer and the lawyer who will represent Lisa Wilkinson in her upcoming legal battle against Bruce Lehrmann has fired a warning shot at any of her future legal opponents: be rude, get sued.

Wilkinson won a Logie in June 2022 for his interview with Brittany Higgins, where the former Liberal party employee accused Lehrmann of raping her three years earlier.

Lehrmann has always denied the allegations made against him by Higgins and in February launched defamation proceedings against Wilkinson, Channel 10, news.com.au and his political editor Samantha Maiden.

Wilkinson was first represented by Thomson Greer, the legal team retained by Channel 10, but quickly ditched solicitors to retain star libel solicitor Sue Chrysanthou SC, Gillis Delaney Lawyers and their partner Anthony Jefferies.

The powerful lawyer has won a series of high-profile libel cases in recent years, securing hefty payments for former New South Wales Deputy Premier John Barilaro, former Sydney Morning Herald columnist Clementine Ford and Senator the Greens, Sarah Hanson-Young.

Chrysanthou’s most recent victory was for former army commander Heston Russell, who sued ABC over 2021 articles linking him to alleged war crimes in Afghanistan.

Sue Chrysanthou SC sent the chocolate cake to her client and ex-army commando Heston Russell (pictured left together) as a belated Christmas present. Ms Chrysanthou has been hired by Lisa Wilkinson in her defamation battle against Bruce Lehrmann

Mrs Chyrsanthou sent chocolate cakes to several of her clients as belated Christmas presents, including Mr Russell.

Earlier this month, Russell won the first round of his defamation battle against ABC.

He thanked Ms Chrysanthou and lawyer Rebekah Giles in an Instagram post shared over the weekend, showing him smashing the chocolate cake with a hammer.

The cake was garnished with a small sign reading, “Be rude, get sued.”

“Breaking up the summer shredding regime with a belated Christmas present from the Baddest Boss-B* lawyer on earth,” he captioned the video, along with a photo of him and Ms Chrysanthou.

“Additional credit to Rebekah G for being the supreme prosecutor behind the scenes and also showing off her slow motion camera skills,” the post continued, with the hashtags “#BeRude” and “#GetSued.”

Russell’s lawyers won their first case in Federal Court on February 1 after Judge Michael Lee found several ABC stories about the former soldier to be libelous.

The matter will now go to trial in Federal Court in March.

Earlier this month, it was revealed that Wilkinson had left her lawyers at Network 10 and hired a new legal team to defend her during the high-profile defamation case against Bruce Lehrmann.

Earlier this month, it was revealed that Wilkinson (pictured with Brittany Higgins) had left 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 broadcast on The Project in February 2021, where former Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins first alleged to Wilkinson that she was raped by “a male colleague” at Parliament House in 2019. .

According to a statement of claim filed in Federal Court on February 7, Mr. Lehrmann will allege that Channel 10 and Wilkinson were “recklessly indifferent to truth or falsehood” when the allegations were made against them.

Channel 10’s lawyers at Thomson Geer submitted documents indicating they would represent Wilkinson; however, new documents filed less than a day later said the deal was over.

Since then, Federal Court documents indicate that Wilkinson would be represented by Gillis Delaney Attorneys and his partner Anthony Jefferies.

He has also hired Ms. Chrysanthou.

Ms Chrysanthou has a long list of high-profile clients and was behind the massive $2.9 million payment The Daily Telegraph ordered her to pay Australian actor Geoffrey Rush after he won his libel case against the Sydney newspaper in 2018. .

The lawyer is also acting for Lachlan Murdoch after he filed a defamation suit against Private Media, Crikey’s publisher, for an article in July of last year.

Lehrmann has always denied the accusations against him.