‘We’ve had a series of really great wins and some incredible settlements,’ Thomas, Vardags’ managing director, says of the year so far. One particular win came ‘on the back of the research that we had put together about the husband’s finances, rather than the information that has been presented to us by him.’
Thomas, who made partner at her previous firm at the tender age of 26, is described by one peer as ‘extremely intelligent’. She credits an in-house research team led by Stephen Bence. ‘It’s excellent,’ she says of the integrated expertise, which has ‘hugely’ benefited Vardags’ cases. She says it is better than ‘instructing an external expert and giving them information cold’.
Thomas is particularly proud of the outcome she secured for client Pauline Chai, a former Miss Malaysia, in her divorce. The judge, who called the £440 million case ‘titanic’, gave the husband a 21-day ultimatum to settle after a bitter three-year battle. ‘It’s a great success,’ she says.
Thomas also represented ex-Liverpool FC manager Brendan Rodgers’ wife and Michelle Young, the ex-wife of property tycoon Scot Young.
The latter case resulted in a £20 million payout.