Sources claim that Baroness Shackleton of Belgravia will be Earl Spencer’s divorce lawyer after he announced his split from the Countess of Spencer to The Mail on Sunday last week.
Baroness Shackleton has overseen some of the most high-profile divorce cases in Britain, including the King’s divorce from Princess Diana in 1996. Other notable clients include Sir Paul McCartney. She also presided over the divorce between the Duke and Duchess of York. Shackleton has been branded a ‘steel magnolia’ and in 1986 became a partner of Farrer and Co, the firm of solicitors employed by the British royal family. The Baroness, alongside other international family lawyers such as Jane Simpson and Raymond tooth co-founded the International Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers which was an exclusive ‘invitation only’ organisation. The group now consists of over 500 of the world’s family lawyers.
In 2001, Shackleton joined firm Payne Hicks as partner but was rumoured to have her reputation tarnished after the Paul Burrell scandal and was met with criticism in the Peat Report on the proceedings. In 2012 the high-profile solicitor was embroiled in controversy after one of her former clients filed a negligence claim against her where he claimed due to ‘erroneous advice’ he lost a considerable sum of money. However the case was dropped.
Shackleton currently remains as a solicitor for the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Sussex and will now assist in the Spencer divorce proceedings.
The breakdown of the Earl’s marriage to Canadian philanthropist Karen Spencer,52, comes after 13 years of marriage and will be Spencer’s third marriage to date. Reportedly, the union started to show cracks after Spencer wrote his harrowing memoirs detailing the sexual abuse he experienced as a child.
