George Pell’s solicitor Paul Galbally denies Robert Richter QC will quit the legal team

George Pell’s solicitor has denied emphatically that Robert Richter will quit the cardinal’s legal team.

Cardinal George Pell's lawyer Robert Richter QC leaves the County Court in Melbourne in February. Picture: AAP

George Pell’s solicitor has denied emphatically that Robert Richter QC will quit the group of legal advisers working with the cardinal.

Paul Galbally told The Australian that Mr Richter remained a crucial adviser to the defence.

“You can be reassured Robert hasn’t quit the team,’’ he said.

“He’s a key part of the team and Robert never quit the team.’’

The Australian reported last week that Sydney barrister Bret Walker SC would represent Pell, 77, in the Court of Appeal proceedings.

It is normal practice for different barristers to be used in a criminal trial and in the Court of Appeal, legal experts have said.

A spokeswoman for Pell said that Mr Richter did feel that the guilty verdicts were perverse but he would remain as a key adviser.

There was no substance to reports he had quit the Pell legal team, she said.

The Australian reported last week that Mr Richter’s junior, Ruth Shann, also would continue to advise Pell.

The appeal will be fought on three grounds; principally, that the jury got it wrong when it convicted Pell over five charges of sexual molestation of two choirboys in 1996 and 1997.

The appeal also will question the way the jury was constituted and the way the jury was barred from watching a defence video that was designed to explain the movements of people in St Patrick’s Cathedral, which is where the jury found the attacks occurred.

Pell, who is in jail on remand, will be sentenced next week.