Bruce Lehrmann's staggering seven-figure bill is exposed after crushing court loss: How much homeless, jobless rapist will have to cough up - and his one silver lining

Bruce Lehrmann's legal costs could exceed $2million after losing his blockbuster defamation trial loss against Network Ten and Lisa Wilkinson.

In the Federal Court on Monday, Justice Michael Lee found on the civil standard that Lehrmann did rape a highly-intoxicated Brittany Higgins inside Parliament House in the early hours of March 23, 2019.

It was a crippling blow for the former Liberal staffer-turned-law student who hasn't had a job since early 2021, when Ms Higgins first went public with her allegations in an interview with Wilkinson on The Project.

Lehrmann wasn't named in that broadcast but launched defamation action over in a bid to clear his name - an effort that spectacularly backfired when Justice Lee's slammed him as a sex offender, an unreliable witness, and a liar in his three-hour judgement. 

The defeat means he now has to worry about covering the costs for Network Ten and Wilkinson's lawyers.

His one saving grace could be that he does not have to worry about paying his own solicitors because they worked on a no-win, no-fee basis. 

The exact figure owed to Ten and Wilkinson will be determined at a later date, with Justice Lee marking April 22 as the due date for costs submissions.

But it will likely be a seven-figure sum.

Wilkinson's barrister Sue Chrysanthou SC  alone charges $8000 a day and her total bill was worth more than $700,000 in October - two months before the actual month-long defamation hearing.

Since then, Ms Chrysanthou attended court for almost every day of the month-long hearing in December. Her costs are likely now worth more than $1million.

There's also the costs of solicitors on both sides, and the fees for Network Ten's barrister Matthew Collins KC.

The cost of the whole case is worth an estimated $10million. 

Outside court on Monday, Ten's lawyer Justin Quill said he is confident the network will be able to recoup some of the costs.

And speaking on Sunrise on Tuesday morning, Mr Quill explained the judge had asked for submissions from both sides about their costs before he rules on who should pay what.

'That order ... I would be reasonably confident, will be in Ten's favour and perhaps on an indemnity basis which means Ten would be entitled to all of its costs back,' he said.

'Whether they're able to recover those costs is another thing and will depend by and large on Bruce Lehrmann's means.'

Lehrmann did get two out-of-court settlements from the ABC and News Corp last year, worth a combined $445,000, after he filed defamation action against them for the same reason he sued Ten and Wilkinson.

However, he is currently unemployed and understood to be couch-surfing with no fixed address.

If he can't find a way to pay his bills, he may have to declare bankruptcy.  

During his judgement on Monday, Justice Lee said: 'To remark that Mr Lehrmann was a poor witness is an understatement.'

'His attachment to the truth was a tenuous one, informed not by faithfulness to his affirmation but by fashioning his responses in what he perceived to be his forensic interests.'

Justice Lee found that Lehrmann brought Ms Higgins back to a 'secluded place', being the ministerial suite, after a night out with colleagues for the purpose of having sex with her.

'Mr Lehrmann was hellbent on having sex with a woman he found sexually attractive,  had been mutually passionately kissing and touching, had encouraged to drink, and knew had reduced inhibitions because she was very drunk,' he said.

'I am satisfied that it is more likely than not that Mr Lehrmann’s state of mind was such that he was so intent upon gratification to be indifferent to Ms Higgins’ consent.'

Lehrmann was tried for sexual assault in the ACT Supreme Court in October 2022, but the case toppled due to misconduct by a juror.

The former ACT Director of Public Prosecutions then dropped the charge against him, citing concerns for Ms Higgins' mental health.

He had pleaded not guilty.