Spear’s Review

‘I’m a good chess player,’ says Sarah Anticoni, a partner at Charles Russell Speechlys.

Anticoni specialises in advising on or mediating financial claims upon divorce, along with arrangements for children, in cases that often have an international element. ‘I don’t overstate my position,’ she tells Spear’s. ‘I’ll listen, and if people have an appetite to fight, then I will try and deter them, but if that is what they want to do, then that is my job and I have to facilitate that in the most strategically advantageous way to the client.’

These clients – who include sportspeople, inherited wealth-holders and tech billionaires – appreciate Anticoni’s expertise in mediation (she was an early adopter of the practice), especially now that it is more of a mainstream option. ‘It’s not just advice or mediation anymore. I think people feel reassured that I understand the process of the alternatives.’