J.K. Rowling's donated royalties from The Cuckoo's Calling to The Soldiers' Charity
THE AGE
1 AUGUST, 2013
Author JK Rowling has accepted a substantial donation to charity from a law firm which breached her confidentiality by revealing she was writing under a pseudonym.
Harry Potter's creator brought proceedings in London's High Court against Chris Gossage, a partner at Russells and a friend of his, Judith Callegari.
Her solicitor, Jenny Afia, told Justice Tugendhat that Rowling was revealed in the Sunday Times as the writer of crime novel The Cuckoo's Calling, which was published under the name of Robert Galbraith.
A few days later, Russells contacted her agent disclosing that it was Gossage who had divulged the confidential information to Callegari, who then communicated it in the course of a Twitter exchange with a journalist.
Afia said that Rowling, who was not in court, "has been left dismayed and distressed by such a fundamental betrayal of trust".
Gossage, Callegari and Russells all apologised, with the firm agreeing to reimburse Rowling's legal costs and make a payment, by way of damages, to the the Soldiers' Charity, formerly the Army Benevolent Fund.
Afterwards a statement issued on the author's behalf said that all global net royalties which would otherwise have been paid to her from book sales of The Cuckoo's Calling would be donated to The Soldiers' Charity for a period of three years, dating from July 14 - the day that Galbraith's identity was made known.
She said: "This donation is being made to The Soldiers' Charity partly as a thank you to the Army people who helped me with research. But also because writing a hero who is a veteran has given me an even greater appreciation and understanding of exactly how much this charity does for ex-servicemen and their families and how much that support is needed.
