dressedtokill
sTRIDING down the steps of the Royal Courts of Justice this week, sporting a jauntily trimmed navy trilby, black PVC mac and £1,200 Louis Vuitton bag, divorce lawyer Fiona Shackleton couldn’t have failed to turn heads.
Her outfit was more ‘look at me’ than anything worn by her high-profile clients — of whom there have been many.
Fiona’s latest is housewife Tatiana Akhmedova, who was awarded £453 million of ex-husband Farkhad Akhmedov’s £1 billion-plus fortune in 2016. Akhmedov, a pal of Russian president Vladimir Putin, is appealing the ruling, which was Britain’s biggest divorce.
Other celebrities she’s represented include comedian David Walliams and it has been reported she will be representing Lisa Armstrong, wife of Anthony McPartlin (of TV duo Ant and Dec) in her battle for a share of his £62 million fortune — a report she has firmly denied.
While the 61-year-old, £600-an-hour legal eagle’s attention to appearance may strike some as frivolous, woe betide anyone who goes up against this fiercely intelligent blonde.
Solicitor Fiona’s unconventional attire may not always be entirely in keeping with Bar Council and Law Society guidance, which stresses ‘business suits’ should be worn, but her outfits may help her in the courtroom. They soften her image, perhaps leading opponents to underestimate her. They’re also a savvy PR trick, ensuring all eyes are on her even when pictured with world-famous clients — meaning future clients take note.
Known as the ‘Steel Magnolia’, Fiona, believed to be the highest-paid divorce lawyer in the country, was made a life peer in 2010, becoming Baroness Shackleton of Belgravia.
A fitting acknowledgement, most would agree, of her work, which has included representing Prince Charles in his divorce from Princess Diana and Sir Paul McCartney following his acrimonious separation from Heather Mills, who memorably poured a jug of water over Fiona in a fit of pique. Fiona’s handling of this, emerging onto the court steps with Sir Paul, wet-haired but smiling, did much to strengthen her reputation.
Lady Shackleton, whose husband, Ian, is a financial PR consultant and a descendant of explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton, is also solicitor to Princes William and Harry.
dESPITEit being her bread and butter, she is a great believer that, if at all possible, divorce should be avoided and, to this end, left the office at 5.30pm sharp every evening when their two daughters were young.
She is also said to bake ‘legendary brownies’, which she takes to work — her mantra: ‘ Bake brownies, don’t bully.’ This nod to domesticity can be explained by her somewhat unconventional journey to become Britain’s best known female divorce lawyer.
Her father, Jonathan Charkham, was Sheriff of London and an adviser to the Bank of England, while her mother was part of the Salmon family, which founded the Lyons Corner House empire. Educated at Benenden, Princess Anne’s alma mater, where she was told she ‘didn’t have the brains for medicine’, Fiona studied law at Exeter.
Leaving with a third-class degree, she decided that law was not for her and instead took a Cordon Bleu cookery course.
But bored with haute cuisine, she returned to the law, securing a job with Farrer & Co, the Queen’s solicitors, in 1984, aged 28. She was a partner within two years and the firm’s leading family lawyer soon afterwards, but it is said she felt ‘under-valued’. In 2001, she jumped ship to leading law firm Payne Hicks Beach, where she remains a partner. While colleagues may have privately sneered about her academic record, Fiona says proudly: ‘I have become a role model for people with thirds.’
Robert Seabrook QC called her ‘a star’, adding: ‘She has an incredible facility for getting to the nub of a case and seeing the wider horizon. She has an extraordinary ability to give people straight answers, often ones they don’t want to hear, in such a way that they take it from her.’
And if she wants to wear some very expensive and eccentric outfits while doing it, who’s going to tell her no?