Bruce Lehrmann has hired one of Australia’s best-known defamation lawyers as he prepares to launch a personal claim after the charge against him were dropped.

Former Liberal Party staffer Brittany Higgins had accused Mr Lehrmann of raping her inside the Parliament House office of then defence minister Linda Reynolds, when both worked for her in 2019.

Mr Lehrmann consistently denied the allegation and maintained the pair never had any sexual interaction.

His criminal trial in the ACT Supreme Court was derailed in October due to juror misconduct. He had been due to face a retrial next February.

But ACT Director of Public Prosecutions Shane Drumgold announced last Friday he would not proceed with a second trial due to the “unacceptable risk” it posed to Ms Higgins’ life.

In a statement on Wednesday, Sydney law firm Mark O’Brien Legal confirmed it would represent Mr Lehrmann in potential defamation proceedings.

“Mark O’Brien Legal is acting on behalf of Bruce Lehrmann … over a number of public statements, broadcasts, articles and social media posts concerning the recently discontinued criminal proceedings against him,” the statement said.

The firm’s founder Mark Geoffrey O’Brien is a prominent lawyer with more than 40 years’ experience managing cases to do with the media and defamation.

Mr O’Brien is one of the lawyers representing former SAS soldier Ben Roberts-Smith in his defamation case against the Nine newspapers.

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– AAP