High profile firm support lawyer after online divorce mistake

A high profile law firm have pledged to support their employee after they filed an online divorce order for the wrong client. Vardags, based in London, has seen an outpouring of sympathy on social media, with many empathising with the mistake. 

The young lawyer who made the slip had clicked on the wrong client through the HMCTS online divorce portal, however the High Court has ruled that the final order should be maintained, even though it was finalised in error.

Vardags is known for dealing with high profile cases and the founder is referred to in the media as the ‘Diva of Divorce’. Bosses have said they are ‘dealing with human beings’ and want to re-iterate that the mistake could have ‘happened to anyone’,

The firm’s president and founder Ayesha Vardag spoke with the Law Gazette after the incident was made public, calling the staff member ‘committed and extremely able ‘.

She told the Gazette: 

“‘The young lawyer who made the slip with the drop down menu on the new divorce portal is one of the best of the next generation. Not sloppy, not careless. Totally committed, extremely able. That young lawyer, our brilliant young lawyer, genuinely needs support to deal with the trauma of it all.”

Vardag said the incident occurred when the incorrect name was clicked on from a drop-down menu on the HMTCS system. I has been claimed that court staff have admitted this has happened more than once and could be put down to a ‘design flaw’.

The estranged couple, who were referred to as Mr and Mrs Williams in High Court documents, had chosen Vardags as their firm. They applied for divorce in early 2023 and it was finalised last October after 21 years of marriage.

Mrs Williams’ solicitors at Vardags said the application was sent off ‘without instruction of authority of their client’, president of the family court division judge Sir Andrew McFarlane said.

Three days later lawyers realised the error and applied to the High Court to rescind the final divorce order explaining that the final order was meant for  ‘a different divorce case’.

The well-known lawyer told TheMailOnline: 

“It should just have been fixed as usual. But here the husband inexplicably took issue and the judge decided, effectively, ‘the computer says no, you’re divorced’.”

The estranged couple, who were referred to as Mr and Mrs Williams in High Court documents, had chosen Vardags as their firm. They applied for divorce in early 2023 and it was finalised last October after 21 years of marriage.

Mrs Williams’ solicitors at Vardags said the application was sent off ‘without instruction of authority of their client’, president of the family court division judge Sir Andrew McFarlane said.

Three days later lawyers realised the error and applied to the High Court to rescind the final divorce order explaining that the final order was meant for  ‘a different divorce case’.

London firm Ribet Myles had represented Mr Williams  in the divorce proceedings and had opposed the application to set aside the final order. Julian Ribet, the firm’s founding partner, said his client had not known for months whether he was divorced or not and he wanted his legal status to be confirmed.

He added:

‘The wife’s solicitors hoped that the order would be treated as an administrative error and deemed never to have existed.‘We objected on the basis that the divorce had been properly applied for, and was therefore effective, notwithstanding the fact that the wife’s solicitors had in fact applied on behalf of the wrong client.’

Vardags has hit headlines in the past after an employee leaked information about a controversial dress code where long hair ‘should be worn up’ and female staff should dress well – exuding an ‘Chanel/Armani look’. This provoked backlash from other firms who said they ‘hired lawyers for their brains not to be fashion models’.