Equity Magazine July 2017 Issue

FINANCE
THE
BREAKUP
There’s a good reason that Ayesha
Vardag has earned the sobriquet of
‘divorce lawyer to the billionaires’
Words by Varun Godinho
The British divorce litigation industry is
worth around £1 billion annually. The
most expensive lawyer in London you
can hire to fight in your corner of the
ring is 49-year-old Ayesha Vardag. That’ll cost you
£795 per hour, plus taxes.
On a telephone call from Europe, the peripatetic
lawyer explains why London has earned its billing
as the divorce capital of the world to the very rich
and famous. “It is an excellent place to get
divorced from the perspective of fairness and
quality of contribution in a marriage. England has
very strongly the idea that there is no discrimination
between breadwinner and homemaker. You can
expect intellectually elite judges who are highlytrained
and incorruptible. England has very
powerful powers of forensic examination. You can
decide it’s a 50-50 split of the marital pot. But then
to determine what that marital pot is, becomes the
big debate.”
That’s why she’s set up an internal financial
forensics division at her law firm Vardags that she
founded in 2005 and which now employs around
70 people with an annual turnover of close to £10-
15 million located in Old Bailey, London. “The
division looks at valuations, hidden assets and
assets that are downplayed. If we are acting for the
people that have the money, then we don’t tell
them to hide their assets, but we seek to argue why
their valuation should be lower than the other side
claims it to be.” She cites the case of her client
Michelle Young who she represented against her
husband, Scot, who declared himself bankrupt
during the divorce. That didn’t stop Vardag from
securing a £26 million order against the husband –
the highest ever against someone made bankrupt.
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EQUITY