According to a court order, former attorney general Christian Porter and his high-profile lawyer Sue Chrysanthou SC will have to pay Jo Dyer hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Dyer, the friend of a woman who had accused Porter of raping her three decades has been successful in a four-day hearing in federal court last month with justice Tom Thawley ordering Chrysanthou to relinquish the brief after agreeing she had received confidential information which was relevant to the case and could present a “danger of misuse”.

The justice ordered both Porter and Chrysanthou to pay costs, but did not make a ruling about how or whether those costs would be shared. The costs order found both jointly liable for the costs, meaning the order could potentially be enforced against either of them with the amount skyrocketing as high as half-a-million dollars.

While Porter accepted that he should pay costs, Chrysanthou argued she should not be liable for costs as she had maintained a “neutral” position in the case.

“Before proceedings were commenced, Ms Chrysanthou, through her solicitors, adopted an adversarial approach, including threatening an application for security for costs in the amount of $150,000 should proceedings be commenced,” the justice stated, explaining that the decision “is not intended as a criticism”.

“The ‘neutral position’ was first indicated at the first case management hearing. Further, it should be noted that, in cross-examination, Ms Chrysanthou accepted that she had assisted Mr Porter in these proceedings,” justice Thawley concluded.