
A royal row over anti-Semitism and sexism has developed between one of the UK’s most prestigious law firms and one of its top women litigagors, one of LawFuel’s ’13 Most Feared Women Litigators,‘ the so-called ‘Steel Magnolia’, Baroness Fiona Shackleton.
Lady Shackleton has accused the Queen’s law firm, Farrer & Co of being a hotbed of anti-Semitism and sexism, according to reports.
She was a partner at Farrers, which has represented Prince Charles in his divorce from Princess Diana, as well as Prince Andrew when he separated from Sarah Ferguson.
She has since gone on to become a conspicuous success, winning multimillion pound settlements for a range of celebrity and ultra wealthy clients that have frequently seen her photographed with clients at court.
She says that she left Farrers after becoming the target of anti-Semitic prejudice resulting from her Jewishness.
‘Women were bullied and, being a Jew, I was bullied,’ she told the Daily Mail. ‘To be told, ‘We only got this client because we don’t employ a Jew in conveyancing, or ‘You’re not going to get equity because [you feel] it’s better to have two children’ ‘
‘I was bringing in much more work than anyone but I would leave at 5.30pm to put my daughters to bed. They terrorised me into thinking I wasn’t very good.’
She has been with Payne Hicks Beach for 20 years. She has also been married for 35 years.
Her claims have resulted in denials from Farrers, which will be wary of being drawn into the same type of anti-Semitism row that has torn apart the Labour Party and led to the suspension of its former leader Jeremy Corbyn.
‘The firm is saddened by Fiona’s comments,’ its spokesman says.
‘They do not reflect the firm of 20 years ago, nor do they bear any relation to the firm of today.
‘Fiona was an equity partner and her departure had nothing whatsoever to do with her gender or her faith.’
Britain’s Only ‘Celebrity Lawyer’
Regarded as one of the country’s most famous lawyers, maybe the only so-called ‘celebrity lawyer’, Lady Shackleton has a fearless reputation.
As website RollonFriday lawyer and founder Matthew Rhodes noted: ‘We don’t venerate lawyers in this country like they do in the US. I think Fiona is the only celebrity lawyer we have.’
The moniker ‘Steel Magnolia’ sums up the combination of steely resolve and polish that characterise the famed divorce lawyer.
After leaving Farrer & Co, Lady Shackleton went on to become a partner at Payne Hicks Beach, where she acted for Sir Paul McCartney when he divorced Heather Mills.
Even though the former model received £24.3million, she was so enraged by the outcome that she emptied a jug of water over Lady Shackleton’s head in court.
She has since gone on to represent an array of famed and wealthy clients, including advertising guru Martin Sorrell, physicist Stephen Hawkins as well as retaining the representation of several Royals, including their most unpopular, Prince Andrew.
Pandemic Boom
Her legal work has boomed with the Coronavirus pandemic.
The Financial Times report that she has fielded numerous divorce enquiries with the pandemic. She has had many inquiries lately, and compares the pandemic to the peak seasons for divorce: after summer holidays and Christmas.
“When you’re socially distanced, you’re topping and tailing the day. On holiday, you’re all banged up together. Ditto at Christmas. You’re hermetically sealed, there’s a lot of eating and drinking, then comes the New Year’s resolution — bin the missus.”
She told the FT about one woman who told her that she was going shopping. “She said, ‘You are going to do a divorce petition and I’m going to put it in a cracker. When we go to our in-laws for Christmas, I am going to pull it with my husband and make sure he gets it.’ I said, ‘I’m not going to be a party to it and it’s never going to work.’
Dress for Success
Her colourful and stylish dresses and English voice have made her even more of an identity, despite early doubts about her likely career prospects.
Born in London and attended Benenden School, the alma mater of Princess Anne. She was told she wasn’t clever enough to become a doctor and instead she studied law at Exeter to study law.
University contemporaries have described a girl with an ‘incredibly upper-class accent and raucous voice’. The law department at Exeter – then known for its focus on the nitty-gritty of ‘black letter law’, according to Michael Frendo, who studied there around the same time – doesn’t seem to have suited her. She scraped through with a third-class degree. ‘I got most of the wildness out of my hair before I left,’ she has said. Today, she doesn’t drink.
‘None of us dreamed she’d make such a mark,’ said one contemporary who became a solicitor. ‘We predicted she would marry well and become a society hostess.’ said one profile on her success.
She achieved a great deal more than that. The ‘fearsome litigator’ and ‘celebrity lawyer’ are only labels. For her, she is very much Baroness Shackleton, the divorce lawyer par excellence.
- When A Sickie Turns Sticky -A Lawyer’s AFL Adventure Ends in Career Foul PlayNorma Harris In what might be the most expensive football tickets ever purchased, a Melbourne lawyer has fumbled his career after calling in sick… Read more: When A Sickie Turns Sticky -A Lawyer’s AFL Adventure Ends in Career Foul Play
- This Retired Lawyer’s Second Act Is Anything But a Red HerringFrom Legal Briefs to Board Game Design for Simon Mortlock New Zealand lawyer Simon Mortlock’s law career transition has seen 53 years as a… Read more: This Retired Lawyer’s Second Act Is Anything But a Red Herring
- The Perry and Squirrell File – An LGBTQ Legal Tangle For Melbourne BarristersBasrristers disciplined over ‘LGBTQ ‘joke’ posted in elevators Two veteran Melbourne barristers, John F. Perry and Robert G. Squirrell, have been officially disciplined after… Read more: The Perry and Squirrell File – An LGBTQ Legal Tangle For Melbourne Barristers
- Pogust Goodhead’s High-Stakes Hangoverf you thought class action was a contact sport, wait until you hear what’s been happening at Pogust Goodhead. The London-based litigation shop that made its name (and burned through a fair bit of investor cash) chasing down corporate behemoths is now facing a drama worthy of its own mini-series. Pogust Goodhead burst onto the scene with a business model that could make even the most jaded litigation funder’s eyes water. However there has been trouble brewing and, as The Times reported this week, the law firm’s own auditors have questioned whether the firm can continue as a going concern. Read More . .
- Delete IP Law? Why Tech Titans Want to Ctrl+Alt+Escape CopyrightThe Dorsey & Musk Battle on IP Law Jacqui Coombe, LawFuel contributor When Jack Dorsey, the bearded oracle of Twitter (now X), tweeted “delete… Read more: Delete IP Law? Why Tech Titans Want to Ctrl+Alt+Escape Copyright
- Disbarred Attorney Sentenced to 30 Months for Defrauding Victims in Ponzi-Like Wire Fraud SchemePonzi Financial Scheme By Attorney Leads To Jail NEWARK, N.J. – A Somerset County, New Jersey, disbarred attorney was sentenced to 30 months in prison… Read more: Disbarred Attorney Sentenced to 30 Months for Defrauding Victims in Ponzi-Like Wire Fraud Scheme
- Law Tribunal Baffled by Lawyer’s Unexplained Court Document Forgery SchemeThe Strange Case of Auckland Lawyer Benjamin Wong Benjamin Wong has been struck off the rolls by the Lawyers and Conveyancers Disciplinary Tribunal for… Read more: Law Tribunal Baffled by Lawyer’s Unexplained Court Document Forgery Scheme