Amber Heard loses legal team in Johnny Depp's defamation case

Amber Heard is getting new legal counsel after Roberta Kaplan and three other attorneys dropped out of her defamation case against Johnny Depp over COVID-19 concerns.

The Time's Up co-founder joined attorneys Davida Brook, Julie Fink, and John Quinn who dropped out from being part of the actress' legal team. According to court documents, Heard "endorsed" their decision.

Instead, the "Aquaman" actress will have Virginia-based attorney Elaine Bredehoft to take over Kaplan's position as head of her legal team. Kaplan will remain as "counsel on record."

"In addition to the undersigned, who is remaining in this matter as counsel of record to Ms. Heard, Ms. Heard has retained the services of another trial counsel licensed in Virginia, Elaine Bredehoft. All Withdrawing Counsel are currently admitted pro hac vice. Ms. Heard will still be represented by the undersigned Virginia counsel. Ms. Heard does not object to the withdrawal of withdrawing counsel and has endorsed the proposed order granting leave to withdraw," read the court documents obtained by The Blast.

Kaplan and her legal team reportedly withdrew as Heard's counsel because of the current pandemic. They also maintained their support for the "Rum Diary" actress despite their exit.

"We believe Amber and we believe in Amber. We have been proud to serve as Amber's counsel. In the strange and unexpected circumstances of today's world, as travel and logistics have become more costly in light of the pandemic, we understand the decision to move the case to local, Virginia-based trial counsel," a spokesperson for Kaplan Hecker & Fink LL said.

However, Depp's legal team believes there is an underlying reason for their withdrawal, which Depp's attorney Adam Waldman vows to find out.

"For years, #TimesUp and others inexplicably hitched their wagons to Amber Heard's abuse hoax. Ms. Heard's lawyers, one of whom co-founded the #TimesUp Legal Defense Fund, have now apparently unhitched from Ms. Heard's long-disproven frauds. We intend to discover why," Waldman told the publication.

Depp's legal team is not only working to disprove Heard's domestic abuse claims, but also to investigate the donations she made to the ACLU and Children's Hospital Los Angeles as part of her divorce settlement. The "Pirates of the Caribbean" star is having doubts about the amount and has asked each organisation to turn in all documents and communications they had with Heard about the donations.