Latest news with #RaymondTooth
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
What I learnt from Britain's most formidable divorce lawyer
Kelly Edwards runs a London-based family law firm specialising in high net worth divorces. She learnt her trade under Raymond Tooth, regarded as Britain's most formidable divorce lawyer As soon as I was able to get a national insurance number, my mum was very much to the tune of 'You are going to get a job immediately.' Aged 16, I worked as a British Home Stores shop assistant in Watford on weekends, evenings and holidays. I became a store manager over the four years and was relatively confident as a teenager. You're taught that the customer's always right and it's just about listening to people. Read More: 'My £20m juice business started in mum's kitchen with an eBay blender' Looking back now, it does put you in good stead for dealing with people on a day-to-day basis with their divorce situation as I do today. One of my uncles had a girlfriend who worked in family law and offered some work experience. I was in the Court of Appeal on my first day, which even now is rare as a family lawyer, and I worked every spare hour I wasn't at law school. I qualified in 2011 and worked under Raymond Tooth, of Sears Tooth, who is a senior statesperson in family law. He qualified as a lawyer nearly 60 years ago. Raymond would probably agree that it was the kind of place where you sink or swim. We were dealing with incredibly high-value, high-temperature work. There was always a lot at stake and Ray taught me just to 'work it out, Kelly' or 'here's this letter, do a draft'. The consequence was, if you got it wrong, he would be very vocal about the fact that he didn't agree with what you'd done. Today, having my own firm, I try not to be quite so direct. When you're dealing with complex cases, you just have to break down issues like housing, income and budget. Whether someone's got £200,000 or £100m, they're still people and life issues are often similar. Read More: How Jeff Dewing went from bankruptcy to £70m fortune I think family lawyers can be tunnel visioned in terms of 'this is the law, this is what we're doing, this is the process'. But if you've got a client that comes in and says they are more worried about a second property, a holiday home or children's arrangements, if people don't listen to these concerns then it becomes harder. We are a small team of 10 but we're probably one of the biggest family teams in London. I set it up because I wanted to do things my way, do great work for interesting clients but still be a nice person. I had lots of enquiries from other family lawyers when I first set up saying I was brave. I never really thought about that at the time, it was more that I didn't want to work for another family lawyer. I have seen a lot of interesting divorce cases. I had one regarding the children under a law called Schedule 1. The mother in that case had a relatively high budget and one of her items was £10,000 a year for wine, which the judge allowed. The father in that case was worth half a billion, so it was affordable, yet it was a surprising one where it was a budget for looking after children rather than a wife. I've had some cases where the holiday budget is more than most people earn in a lifetime. It just depends on how much there is to argue. I know other family lawyers as professional colleagues when we get a case where you know the person on the other side. Read More: 'How I went from cricket to content creator documenting OnlyFans model Lily Phillips' The clients think that's a disaster and how this could be a positive. To which I say, 'No, it's good if I know them because I can pick up the phone and say, 'What on earth is going on? Let's try and sort things out'. Right from the beginning I tell my clients that you're trusting me with your divorce, which is a very raw and emotional process. And so if they don't have that positive feeling in our first meeting, then I might not be the right lawyer for them. I'm very blunt because I'd rather win clients who I can work well with and they feel comfortable with — and most clients find that quite refreshing. Most cases settle because I'm not going to allow a client to go to a final hearing and have a big fight if we can reach an agreement. Read more: Meet the 'jokers from London' who sold 100,000 blocks of butter in first 10 weeks 'My sofa took six months to arrive — so I built a £20m business' 'I paid myself £4 an hour to get my Rollr deodorant off the ground'Error while retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
What I learnt from Britain's most formidable divorce lawyer
Kelly Edwards runs a London-based family law firm specialising in high net worth divorces. She learnt her trade under Raymond Tooth, regarded as Britain's most formidable divorce lawyer As soon as I was able to get a national insurance number, my mum was very much to the tune of 'You are going to get a job immediately.' Aged 16, I worked as a British Home Stores shop assistant in Watford on weekends, evenings and holidays. I became a store manager over the four years and was relatively confident as a teenager. You're taught that the customer's always right and it's just about listening to people. Read More: 'My £20m juice business started in mum's kitchen with an eBay blender' Looking back now, it does put you in good stead for dealing with people on a day-to-day basis with their divorce situation as I do today. One of my uncles had a girlfriend who worked in family law and offered some work experience. I was in the Court of Appeal on my first day, which even now is rare as a family lawyer, and I worked every spare hour I wasn't at law school. I qualified in 2011 and worked under Raymond Tooth, of Sears Tooth, who is a senior statesperson in family law. He qualified as a lawyer nearly 60 years ago. Raymond would probably agree that it was the kind of place where you sink or swim. We were dealing with incredibly high-value, high-temperature work. There was always a lot at stake and Ray taught me just to 'work it out, Kelly' or 'here's this letter, do a draft'. The consequence was, if you got it wrong, he would be very vocal about the fact that he didn't agree with what you'd done. Today, having my own firm, I try not to be quite so direct. When you're dealing with complex cases, you just have to break down issues like housing, income and budget. Whether someone's got £200,000 or £100m, they're still people and life issues are often similar. Read More: How Jeff Dewing went from bankruptcy to £70m fortune I think family lawyers can be tunnel visioned in terms of 'this is the law, this is what we're doing, this is the process'. But if you've got a client that comes in and says they are more worried about a second property, a holiday home or children's arrangements, if people don't listen to these concerns then it becomes harder. We are a small team of 10 but we're probably one of the biggest family teams in London. I set it up because I wanted to do things my way, do great work for interesting clients but still be a nice person. I had lots of enquiries from other family lawyers when I first set up saying I was brave. I never really thought about that at the time, it was more that I didn't want to work for another family lawyer. I have seen a lot of interesting divorce cases. I had one regarding the children under a law called Schedule 1. The mother in that case had a relatively high budget and one of her items was £10,000 a year for wine, which the judge allowed. The father in that case was worth half a billion, so it was affordable, yet it was a surprising one where it was a budget for looking after children rather than a wife. I've had some cases where the holiday budget is more than most people earn in a lifetime. It just depends on how much there is to argue. I know other family lawyers as professional colleagues when we get a case where you know the person on the other side. Read More: 'How I went from cricket to content creator documenting OnlyFans model Lily Phillips' The clients think that's a disaster and how this could be a positive. To which I say, 'No, it's good if I know them because I can pick up the phone and say, 'What on earth is going on? Let's try and sort things out'. Right from the beginning I tell my clients that you're trusting me with your divorce, which is a very raw and emotional process. And so if they don't have that positive feeling in our first meeting, then I might not be the right lawyer for them. I'm very blunt because I'd rather win clients who I can work well with and they feel comfortable with — and most clients find that quite refreshing. Most cases settle because I'm not going to allow a client to go to a final hearing and have a big fight if we can reach an agreement. Read more: Meet the 'jokers from London' who sold 100,000 blocks of butter in first 10 weeks 'My sofa took six months to arrive — so I built a £20m business' 'I paid myself £4 an hour to get my Rollr deodorant off the ground'Sign in to access your portfolio
Daily Mail
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Multimillionaire divorcee ordered out of her £19m mansion where Dickens once lived after losing court fight with bank
A multimillionaire divorcee has been ordered out of her historic £19m mansion - which was once home to Charles Dickens - after losing a court fight with her bank. High-end estate agent Deborah Fiorentino, 63, was sued after she failed to pay the mortgage on her Grade-I listed Regents Park home leaving her more than £10m in debt. Ms Fiorentino, the former wife of both Italian aristocrat Giovanni Fiorentino and celebrity British divorce lawyer Raymond 'Jaws' Tooth, ran up the massive arrears after taking out a £17.85m loan on the house and other properties. But she stopped paying her mortgage in December 2022 and, despite complaining that she had been badly treated by the bank, has now been ordered out by a judge. Judge Nicholas Parfitt, sitting at Mayor's and City County Court, said Ms Fiorentino had made it clear that the house was her 'only asset' and that she was not going to make any more installments. The seven-bed house in Hanover Terrace, overlooking Regent's Park boating lake, is where Dickens spent the summer of 1861, around the time he wrote 'Great Expectations.' Designed by Buckingham Palace and Marble Arch neo-classical architect John Nash, it has been recently renovated to feature its own gym and sauna, and is now home to wealthy divorcee Ms Fiorentino. Ms Fiorentino is a former local estate agent, who after setting up her own office built a portfolio of luxury houses in some of London's richest districts. In the early 90s, she married Italian aristocrat Mr Fiorentino, father of her two children. The children lived with him between his two large family homes in Naples, while Ms Fiorentino continued to buy up more expensive houses. One in Hampstead belonged to pioneer plastic surgeon Sir Harold Gillies, while her former home in Frognal, also in Hampstead, was where stars including Peter Sellers and Elizabeth Taylor enjoyed garden parties in the 60s. In 2008, she separated from her second husband, top divorce lawyer Raymond 'Jaws' Tooth, who worked on the divorces of Roman Abramovich, Jude Law, Michael Barrymore and Colin Montgomerie. But representing Banque Havilland in court last week, Michael Walsh KC said Ms Fiorentino - 'supposedly a high net worth individual' - had now shown herself unable to pay her debts. She took out the £17.85m five-year loan with the bank in March 2019, secured against the Hanover Terrace house and mews, and the third property in Frognal. Although Frognal was sold, allowing the proceeds to pay down the loan, she was still left owing over £10.2m, with the debt growing by almost £2,000 per day, said the barrister. But after December 2022, she had gone on to fail to meet interest payments, he said, telling the judge that she 'patently cannot afford to repay.' 'The irresistible conclusion here is that she is persistently unable to meet her obligations,' Mr Walsh said. 'She has made no interest payment whatsoever since December 2022 on this loan. 'The reality is that she has had ample time to repay the amounts owed by her and cannot do so.' He asked the judge to make an order that she vacate the house so that it can be sold and the bank get its money back. However, Ms Fiorentino fought the claim arguing that because she has a separate claim against the bank alleging unfair treatment, the order should not be made. Her barrister, Thomas Rothwell, claimed the bank had taken an 'unnecessarily belligerent attitude' against her and that she had been 'treated unreasonably.' She had been prevented from refinancing her loan, costing her millions in extra outgoings and interest, meaning the amount she owes should be reduced by at least £2.45m. But ruling on the case, Judge Parfitt said her case against the bank could not be decided now and that 'the law is well established that the granted security rights take precedence over the cause of action.' He continued: 'Under the finance documents, interest payments were payable quarterly. It is common ground that, since December 2022, the defendant has made no such payments. 'Indeed, the defendant has chosen to make no payments into the mortgage account since December 2022 and is not proposing to make any in the future. 'The defendant has made clear that her only asset is Hanover and so she has no means of making any payments to the bank other than through a sale of Hanover or refinancing Hanover.' He said she had put forward evidence about her attempts to sell the house herself but that showed only a 'repeated cycle of accepted informal offers and nothing further.' During the hearing last week, the court heard Ms Fiorentino had claimed the house was close to selling several times, including once to an unnamed Premier League footballer, but a sale had not got to contract exchange. The bank's barrister Mr Walsh suggested she had overpriced it accusing her of being 'incapable of properly marketing this property' and pointing to the fact that she had initially marketed the Frognal house for a 'wildly over-optimistic' £19.95m, before selling for just over £11m. In his ruling, the judge said of her near sale claims: 'At best it is a sequence of hoped for sales which never come close to being a substantial likelihood. 'At worse it is generating evidence to resist the consequences of her legal position arising from the financial documents and her defaults, including at its most basic and uncontroversial failing to repay at the end of the term.' The judge however granted Ms Fiorentino a three-month stay of execution so that she can make a last ditch effort to sell her historic house before it is repossessed. He ordered that she otherwise must give up possession of the house to the bank by 4pm on August 21. Her claim against the bank over alleged financial losses will take place at a later date.
