Lisa Wilkinson to secure $1 million from Channel 10 in legal costs

Channel Ten has agreed to pay Lisa Wilkinson to cover her legal costs for the Bruce Lehrmann trial.

Network Ten has agreed to pay Lisa Wilkinson $1.1 million to cover her legal costs for the Bruce Lehrmann trial after years of legal arguments.

The Federal Court confirmed the agreement on Monday night after a protracted legal dispute that played out publicly.

“Network Ten and Ms Wilkinson have agreed that the total amount payable by Network Ten to Ms Wilkinson in respect of the indemnity for her costs incurred in the proceeding against her by Mr Lehrmann is $1,150,000.00,” the orders state.

“Network Ten has paid Ms Wilkinson the amount of $558,548.30 in respect of the indemnity owed by Network Ten to Ms Wilkinson in respect of her costs incurred in the proceeding against her by Mr Lehrmann.

“The due date for payment by Network Ten to Lisa Wilkinson of the remaining amount of $591,451.70 is 19 March 2025.”

Network Ten is estimated to have spent over $3 million defending the matter bringing their total costs to over $4 million.

The former TV host believed she had won a big victory against her employer when Network Ten was forced by the Federal Court to pay her “reasonable” legal bills in February, 2024.

But it subsequently emerged the gap between what she’s spent and what Ten will actually pay was at over $1 million.

She had sought around $1.8 million and Network Ten had proposed $600,000. Legal sources remained confident that Network 10 would be required to pay more to reduce that gap and on Monday night that was confirmed.

Separately, Wilkinson was also awarded legal costs from her successful cross claim against Channel 10 of an estimated $500,000 and remained on full pay since she last appeared on air in late 2022 to late 2024 when her contract ended.

Network 10 Ten has agreed to pay Lisa Wilkinson $1.1 million to cover her legal costs for the Bruce Lehrmann trial after years of legal arguments. Picture: Channel 9

Lisa Wilkinson’s legal team

The TV broadcaster’s decision to hire her own legal team for a defamation trial and ask her employer to pay for it sparked tension behind the scenes for months.

Wilkinson was personally represented by law firm Gillis Delaney Lawyers, which charges $750 per hour, and top defamation barrister Sue Chrysanthou SC.

In previous submissions to the court, Network Ten’s lawyer Matt Collins KC argued it was not required to reimburse Ms Wilkinson for costs incurred “in an unnecessarily duplicative or wasteful manner”.

“Ms Wilkinson was not entitled to incur costs … as she pleased on the assumption that Network Ten would ultimately pick up the bill,” he wrote.

“She was required to incur costs in a responsible manner, having regard to how those costs might be minimised given the separate but related work being undertaken by Network Ten.”

Wilkinson was personally represented by law firm Gillis Delaney Lawyers, which charges $750 per hour, and top defamation barrister Sue Chrysanthou SC. Photo by Don Arnold/Getty Images

Wilkinson ‘gutted’ by Channel Ten’s ‘cruel’ approach

In an affidavit tendered to the court, Ms Wilkinson has previously said she was “gutted” by her employer’s “cruel” and “disingenuous” decision not to cover her legal expenses.

She explained she had engaged her own lawyers to defend her in the defamation suit after she lost faith in the legal team employed by Network Ten, who she felt had “abandoned” her.

Ms Wilkinson’s lawyer Michael Elliot has also previously expressed his frustration at the network.

“There’s just an ongoing reluctance to pay us anything,” Mr Elliott said.

The TV broadcaster’s decision to hire her own legal team for the defamation trial and ask her employer to pay for it, has sparked tension behind the scenes for months.

Ten’s barrister, Mr Collins KC, has argued in submissions that Wilkinson “was not entitled to incur costs in respect of her separate interests as she pleased on the assumption that Network Ten would ultimately pick up the bill”.

Ms Wilkinson has previously said she was ‘gutted’ by her employer’s ‘cruel’ and ‘disingenuous’ decision not to cover her legal expenses. Picture: Richard Dobson.

What Justice Lee found

On February 14, 2024, Justice Michael Lee ruled that Wilkinson’s decision to hire her own solicitors was reasonable and she won the fight – but the wrangling wasn’t over.

“In all circumstances it was reasonable for Ms Wilkinson to retain separate lawyers,’’ Justice Lee said in February, 2024.

“And accordingly, the question becomes where do we go from there.”

However, the fine detail of how much Ten would pay had to wait until the outcome of the case, with Network Ten ultimately winning the truth defence, with Bruce Lehrmann declared a rapist on the balance of probabilities.

Wilkinson ‘hysterical’ over legal fees

During the cross claim, the Federal Court heard Wilkinson was “almost hysterical” and “sobbing” last year as she detailed her fears she would have to sell her multimillion-dollar Cremorne mansion to pay her legal fees. That was according to her boss, Network Ten CEO Beverley McGarvey.

The new trove of court documents also revealed the TV host had a $100,000 annual wardrobe allowance, which was then slashed to $40,000 after November 18, 2022, when she was “removed” as a regular host on The Project.

In a briefing note prepared for Ten’s legal team, Ms McGarvey details a “challenging” call she had with the network star on June 7, 2023.

“Lisa was very upset and emotional and it was a very challenging call,” McGarvey wrote.

“She was almost immediately upset and started talking about legal fees and how she would have to sell her house.

“I would say her tone was almost hysterical.”

But the Ten CEO then made a series of observations about the value of her Cremorne family home.

“She is being paid by us on full salary, and lives in a lavish multimillion dollar home with a pool and a tennis court and harbour views, so I hope this is not a real risk,” she said.

“She asked if we would pay for her fees and this came up over and over again in the conversation. I told her to talk with Nick, her manager.”

Wilkinson was also awarded legal costs from her successful cross claim against Channel 10 of an estimated $500,000 and remained on full pay since she last appeared on air in late 2022 to late 2024 when her contract ended.

The Logies Speech

Wilkinson’s Logies speech, which sparked a delay to the criminal trial, was central to the legal argument, with the host arguing she was given the green light by Ten’s lawyers to give the speech.

She then said was shocked that her employer refused to publicly detail the advice upon which she was acting.

As a result, she said she lost confidence in the legal advice, and her employer, in safeguarding her interests.

‘Irrational claims about our choice of lawyers’

Documents also revealed Ms Wilkinson was upset that Thomson Geer, the media lawyers acting for Ten, also acted for News Corp, the parent company of news.com.au.

“She made irrational claims about our choice of lawyers because they worked for News Corp,” Ms McGarvey claims in her briefing note.

“She seemed to imply although it was confusing that she thought that meant our lawyers were feeding stories to News Corp.

“It should be noted the lawyers she has chosen have represented Lachlan Murdoch and also News Corp.

“She was very angry at me and very upset at others sobbing so much she could not talk. The recurring theme was that she did not believe we were supporting her.

“She asked what moment it all went wrong. I assured her there was no moment. She asked what she had done to me and what she had done to make me or someone at the network hate her.”

Ms McGarvey said Wilkinson was extremely upset and raised her voice several times “about how we have not stopped all the bad press about her.”

“It has destroyed her reputation. She gave some confusing examples,” Ms McGarvey said.

“She believes the Logies was the moment it became untenable and she blames us for that.

“I told her I found her comments offensive and we did care about her and our brand. I generally stayed calm. However in several moments I found myself agitated and had to take breaths to calm down.

“She said the Spotlight program was disgraceful. And I agreed, noting Bruce (Lehrmann) had the right to his say, but they used material they obtained from a source unknown to us.”

Originally published as Lisa Wilkinson to secure $1 million from Channel 10 in legal costs