Ayesha Vardag (born March 1968) is an English solicitor who has represented members of the Royal Families, heiresses, international footballers, artists, professionals, entrepreneurs and celebrities. Her first case of note came with her Supreme Court victory in the 2010 Radmacher case, which changed the law on prenuptial agreements, making them enforceable in England and Wales.
Video Ayesha Vardag
Early life
Born Ayesha Mary Barbara Vardag in London, daughter of an English mother and Pakistani father Asaf Vardag who is a direct descendent from the Lodhi royal family which ruled India in the 16th century, Vardag grew up in Oxfordshire and read law at Cambridge and the Universite Libre in Brussels. Vardag's grandfather was active in the Indian National Congress and as its candidate was twice elected mayor of Karachi in undivided India.
Vardag read law at Queens' College, Cambridge, with a Duke of Edinburgh award for membership of the Inner Temple. She later became Cambridge Wiener Anspach scholar for a Masters in European Law at the Université Libre Brussels and worked extensively on expert research projects at the International Court of Justice in The Hague and at the UN (IAEA) Legal Division in Vienna.
Maps Ayesha Vardag
Legal career
Vardag qualified as a solicitor in 1996 and was initially trained as a finance solicitor at Linklaters where she became the leading specialist at 26 in nuclear energy law.
Prior to becoming a family lawyer, she worked for the New York law firm Weil, Gotshal & Manges.
Vardag's training in matrimonial law was as a mini-pupil to Nicholas Mostyn and as one of two assistants to Raymond Tooth, senior partner at Sears Tooth and co-founder of the International Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, an invitation-only organisation which now consists of over 500 of the world's leading family lawyers. Vardag founded Ayesha Vardag solicitors in 2005, which incorporated as Vardags in May 2010.
Her first case of note was that of Radmacher, which changed the law on prenuptial agreements in England and Wales. Vardag founded Ayesha Vardag LLP in 2005, which incorporated as Vardags Ltd in May 2010.
Controversy
In September 2011 the Daily Mail reported that Raymond Tooth, accused Vardag of trying to "pinch" celebrity clients from him which resulted in an agreed settlement
Notable cases
In 2010 Vardag made history in a landmark Supreme Court case that changed the law on prenuptial agreements. Acting for German heiress Katrin Radmacher, she won a ruling that the prenup she drew up to protect her £100 million fortune from her French-born husband was legally binding.
In 2017 Ms Vardag helped former Malaysian beauty queen Pauline Chai secure a settlement of £64m - one of the largest in history.
Personal life
Vardag is married to Stephen Bence, a financial consultant and a former astrophysicist who is director of strategy at Vardags Ltd. The couple have two sons and a daughter, and the family lives in North London.
See also
- Prenuptial agreement
- Divorce
- Family law
External links
- Radmacher pre-nuptial judgement - Sky News report
- How to have a good Brexit divorce - BBC News
- The 'diva of divorce' for the world's super rich - BBC News
References
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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