The events at Parliament House on March 23, 2019 may have spawned a criminal trial, multiple defamation suits and a political crisis, but the legal drama is set to continue for the foreseeable future.

Bruce Lehrmann’s attempt to salvage his reputation, following Channel 10 interviewing Brittany Higgins in February 2021, resulted in Justice Michael Lee finding that on the balance of probabilities, he had raped Higgins.

The aftermath

Although Justice Lee’s findings against Lehrmann are still open to appeal, the aftermath of the defamation trial is still running through the Federal Court.

Channel 10 and Lisa Wilkinson are battling it out over who should pay for legal fees and Lehrmann is waiting to find out how much of the cost of the proceeding he will have to cover.

Justice Lee signalled that Lehrmann will be footing some of the bill, telling Channel 10’s lawyers that “there will be a costs order made in favour of your client”.

His decision on the final costs has yet to be made.

Channel 10 and Wilkinson are also fighting over legal fees, after the one-time The Project host hired outside lawyers to represent her, part way into the proceedings.

Ten’s lawyer cleared Lisa Wilkinson’s Logies speech after a chief prosecutor raised no objection. Photo: AAP

The Ten Network has argued that it should not be liable for its former star presenter’s legal fees because she “incurred costs in an unnecessarily duplicative or wasteful manner”.

The Federal Court will appoint a costs referee to determine how the legal fees should be finalised and paid.

Defamation lawyers and counsel are the big winners, with the 24-day civil trial racking up between $8 and $10 million in legal fees, according to The Guardian.

Higgins v Reynolds

Senator Linda Reynolds has declared that she will continue with her defamation suit against Higgins, despite the findings from Lehrmann’s defamation suit.

Linda Reynolds’ legal action against Brittany Higgins and her partner is listed for trial in July. Photo: AAP

Reynolds has twice apologised to Higgins, for the alleged rape in 2021 and for calling her a lying cow in 2023, but launched the civil suit seeking damages and monetary compensation against Higgins and her partner David Sharaz.

Tweet from @BrittHiggins_

The six-week trial is set to begin on July 24, but Higgins’ lawyer had asked the judge to postpone or set aside because he has not received the necessary instruction to prepare for it.

The judge ruled there was no reason to delay the defamation suit, but acknowledged the trial’s impact on Higgins’ mental health.

Sharaz, Higgins’ partner, is also being sued by Reynolds, but has announced he will not defend against the civil defamation case.

Tweet from @SharazDavid

Reynolds’ lawyer accused Sharaz of launching an “attention-seeking stunt to manipulate the media”.

Future appeal

Lehrmann is planning to appeal against Justice Lee’s findings that he had raped Higgins in Parliament House and is being represented by ‘top media lawyer’ Guy Reynolds SC.

Justice Lee has extended the deadline to appeal against the decision until the end of May, as Lehrmann’s new lawyers examine more than 1000 exhibits of trial material.

The former political staffer will face a committal hearing in a separate, unrelated criminal trial in June in Toowoomba, accused of two counts of rape.

Lehrmann has maintained his innocence since he was first named as the person who allegedly raped Higgins and plans to plead not guilty in Toowoomba.