Law firm leaked Rowling's alter ego

LAW firm Russells has apologised to JK Rowling for inadvertently leaking that the Harry Potter author was also writing under another name.

JK Rowling Harry Potter

A BRITISH law firm has admitted that one of its partners inadvertently leaked that JK Rowling had authored a mystery novel, The Cuckoo's Calling.

The Sunday Times newspaper revealed over the weekend that the Harry Potter author had penned the book under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith.

The newspaper said it had received a tip-off on Twitter, and there was speculation that Rowling or her publisher were behind the revelation - which has sent sales of the book skyrocketing.

But law firm Russells said on Thursday that one of its partners, Chris Gossage, had let the information slip to his wife's best friend, Judith Callegari - the woman behind the tweet. Her Twitter account has now been deleted.

Russells said in a statement that "we apologise unreservedly" to Rowling.

It said that while Gossage was culpable, "the disclosure was made in confidence to someone he trusted implicitly".

Russells, a specialist in entertainment law, said it had informed Rowling and her agent once it learned what had happened.

"We can confirm that this leak was not part of any marketing plan and that neither JK Rowling, her agent nor publishers were in any way involved," the statement said.

The Cuckoo's Calling had garnered good reviews but sold in the hundreds of copies since being published in April.

Since Rowling was outed as the author, it has topped best-seller lists, with publisher Little, Brown and Company commissioning a new printing of 300,000 copies.