‘A thug in lawyer’s clothing’, ‘a monster with a personality disorder’, ‘a likeable buffoon’: top family lawyers rate their peers
Voting for the Spear’s Family Lawyer Index has just closed, and it promises to be a punchy feature when published in April.
This guide to the top 25 family lawyers started with a peer review. The Spear’s Research Unit asked the 50 most high-profile lawyers in London to pick the 10 names that they believed should be on every UHNW’s radar.
Spear’s last Legal Index
The consensus revealed rises and falls in the status quo and, controversially, the demise of two venerable houses.
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I won’t spoil the surprise for now, but I’ll leave you with some of the juicier quotes from the peer review. Remember, these are divorce lawyers talking about divorce lawyers; hardly keeping it in the family…
‘We’re not in Tavistock Square in the 1990s; despite her reputation, she’s out of date.’
‘You write a letter and you don’t get a response. You write another letter and you still don’t get a response. Finally you write a third letter and then you get a response labelling you aggressive.’
‘You never talk to her. Her juniors do the work but get none of the credit.’
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‘A street fighter. The go-to man for trench fighting litigation if you want to get filthy.’
‘A monster with a personality disorder.’
Two rival divorce laywers run into one another on their lunchbreak (as imagined by Spear’s)
‘She has become a neurotic worrier -— everything has to be checked.’
‘She regards herself as the social equal of her clients.’
‘A nutter. He sends emails in capitals in the middle of the night and on the weekends.’
‘He is a good client-getter but not a great lawyer.’
‘A likeable buffoon doing a four day week.’
‘She is a thug dressed in lawyer’s clothing.’
Of course, these quotes will never be attributed. But be sure to pick up a copy of the Spear’s Family Lawyer Index in April.
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