Ayesha Vardag

In 2010, Vardag represented German heiress Katrin Radmacher in the Radmacher v Granatino case which allowed a prenuptial agreement for the first time in the UK. She and her team won a ruling holding that the prenup drawn up to protect Radmacher's £100 million fortune from her French-born husband Nicolas Granatino, was legally binding.[8] While the case established for the first time that prenups are enforceable in the UK, courts still retain the discretionary right to veto them if they are found to be unfair.[9] She acted for Radmacher throughout the hearings in the High Court, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court. Her firm, then named Ayesha Vardag Solicitors, is noted as the instructing solicitors on all three judgments.[10][11][12] In 2017, in a four-year-long divorce case complicated by a dispute over whether jurisdiction lay in the UK or Malaysia, Vardag represented London-based Malaysian former beauty queen, Pauline Chai, whose husband, Malaysian tycoon and non-executive chair of Laura Ashley Holdings, Khoo Kay Peng, wanted the case heard in their original homeland.[13] The Vardags jurisdiction argument was decided in favour of her client. Chai was awarded a settlement of £64 million.[14][15]