Something for the weekend – Wagatha Christie
Paul Lunt, a lawyer from Brabners is the unlikely star of a new Disney+’s new three-part documentary Coleen Rooney: The Real Wagatha Story, which has just dropped.
He headed Coleen Rooney’s legal team and is interviewed extensively in episode three of the docuseries, which gives an inside look into one of the most significant and contentious libel cases in recent history.
The interviews were set in Brabners’ new offices in Barbirolli Square and detail the defence strategy behind the two-year libel case.
The team successfully defended Mrs Rooney, wife of former Manchester United and Everton star Wayne, after she was taken to court by Rebekah Vardy having claimed that Vardy and her PR agent had been habitually leaking private information about the Rooney family to The Sun newspaper.
The high-profile trial, which assumed the popular #WagathaChristie moniker, ended in May 2022, with the judge ruling in Rooney’s favour. Vardy was subsequently ordered to pay up to £1.5m in legal fees.
Brabners’ original podcast series Rooney v Vardy: The Breakdown is also available to stream on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, having won the Outstanding Marketing Innovation Award at last year’s Legal Innovation Awards.
Lunt said: “Of all the high-profile cases we have handled as a team, Coleen’s was easily one of the most challenging – not only as we were appointed part-way into the process but also in the unparalleled levels of media attention and coverage it generated. By the time the case got to trial, that coverage had become an important factor in the strategy we developed to secure victory both in the High Court and the court of public opinion.
“It has been an incredibly rewarding experience to revisit the case for Disney, and I’m pleased that we could provide some fresh insight into what really went on behind the scenes and how the case developed into the national news story we know today.”
Coleen Rooney: The Real Wagatha Story premiered on Disney+ on Wednesday 18th October.
