Vardags

Spear’s Review

Founded by ‘the diva of divorce’, Ayesha Vardag, in 2005, Vardags is well known for its work on high-profile, high-value divorce cases.

With offices in London, Manchester, Cambridge, Milan and Florence, Vardags has been at the forefront of family law for more than two decades. In 2010, the firm achieved a landmark result in Radmacher v Granatino, which gave prenuptial agreements decisive weight in English divorce law for the first time. It also obtained a £25 million award for Michelle Young in Young v Young [2013], ending six years of litigation amid extensive media interest. In Al-Baker v Al-Baker [2016], the firm obtained a £61 million settlement for the wife, among the largest lump sums awarded in England after an overseas divorce.

In recent years, Vardags has grown its practice to cover reputation and privacy, children law, commercial and civil ligation, and financial crime. 

Company Profile

Vardags is a specialist family law firm providing expert legal services to high-net-worth individuals, both domestically and internationally. Led by Ayesha Vardag – who has been described as Britain’s top divorce lawyer – Vardags is trusted by some of the world’s elite to handle their most sensitive family matters. Clients range from business leaders, entrepreneurs and celebrities to royalty, public figures and families whose lives and assets span multiple jurisdictions. Described by the Times as ‘one of the most prominent divorce and family law outfits in the country’, and by Mr Justice Peel as comprising some of the ‘finest’ lawyers in the field, Vardags handles matters where individual caseloads routinely run into the hundreds of millions.

Vardags, founded in 2005, was by 2017 the fastest-growing law firm in Europe by FT 1000 rankings. It now runs to over a hundred people across five offices, and with a practice built around family law at the highest level, Vardags is recognised as one of the leading firms in the country for high-net-worth divorce matters. The firm’s work is supported by expertise across a wider range of legal services, including: financial remedy; children law; prenuptial, postnuptial and cohabitation matters; inheritance, wills, trusts and succession planning; privacy and reputation management; civil and commercial litigation; and criminal defence.

Much of Vardags’ work has an international dimension. Vardags advises clients navigating the intersection of English and foreign law, represents those for whom jurisdiction is itself a contested issue, and operates across borders as a matter of course. The firm has offices in London, Manchester, Cambridge, Milan and Florence, reflecting both its international client base and the increasing movement of wealthy individuals between jurisdictions.

Underpinning its legal work is an in-house financial forensics team – a market-first offering providing asset tracing, expert valuations and forensic financial analysis. In high-value cases involving hidden assets, complex corporate structures or disputed business valuations, it provides clients with a decisive advantage.

Vardags handles a significant volume of its most sensitive work entirely outside the public domain – and for many of its clients, that is as important as the outcome itself.