By Allan Kozinn
New York Times
Chris Gossage, the lawyer whose indiscreet chatter at home led to the public unmasking of J. K. Rowling as the author of “The Cuckoo’s Calling” - the detective novel that she published under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith - has been fined 1,000 pounds (about $1,645) by the Solicitors Regulation Authority for breaking the authority’s client confidentiality rules.
Gossage, a partner at Russells Solicitors, also received a written rebuke. The ruling was issued by the authority on Nov. 26, but was not made public until this week.
Rowling published the book as Galbraith last April, but was quickly unmasked when a columnist for The Sunday Times of London learned her identity and confronted her.
At the time many people suspected that Rowling herself was behind the leak, but Russells admitted that Gossage was the source, having revealed Galbraith’s identity to his wife, who told her friend Judith Callegari, who passed the news to the Times columnist in a Twitter exchange.
Russells has already apologized formally, and agreed to what has been described only as “a substantial donation” to the Soldiers’ Charity, to which Rowling has also said that she is donating all royalties from the book.
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