Simon McKirgan > Vardags > London, England > Lawyer Profile
Vardags Offices
10 OLD BAILEY
LONDON
EC4M 7NG
England
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Simon McKirgan
Work Department
Divorce and family law
Position
Simon, Senior Partner at Vardags, specialises in the top end of high net worth divorce. He has particular expertise in managing ultra-high net worth cases involving very complex financial issues and cross-jurisdictional disputes. He has the expertise and command of both broad lines and forensic detail to be in complete command of his multi-billion pound cases. Simon also deals with separation and cohabitation disputes and private children law proceedings, including international relocation.
Simon has great experience in representing individuals or their partners from the venture capital, hedge fund, City, banking, entertainment and sporting sectors, and leading entrepreneurs. He has particular expertise in handling the sensitivities around celebrity cases. As a trained collaborative lawyer, he is able to settle cases through conciliatory negotiation as well as through tough litigation.
Career
Simon trained with Tilley & Co, St. Albans, where he qualified in 1999. In 2001, Simon moved to Horsey Lightly in Newbury as an associate in the family department. He joined Royds LLP as a senior associate in 2006, and was made partner in 2007. Simon joined Vardags as a director in April 2013 and was promoted to Senior Director in April 2015.
All of Simon’s cases involve assets in the tens or hundreds of millions of pounds and recently he acted for the husband in the high-profile case of FRB v DCA, an immensely complex and high-profile divorce case involving the scions of two allegedly billionaire families.
Reported cases include:
- FRB v DCA [No. 2] [2020] EWHC 754 (Fam)
- FRB v DCA [2019] EWHC 2816 (Fam)
- DE v AB [2014] EWCA Civ 1064 (Fam)
- Young v Young [2013] EWCH 3637 (Fam)
- AB v CD & C [2019] EWHC 1695 (Fam)
- AB and CD and C [2019] EWHC 1695 (Fam)
Memberships
Simon is a member of Resolution, an accredited member of the Solicitors Regulation Authority Family Law Accreditation Scheme, and a trained collaborative lawyer.
Education
York University (1994 BA)
Leisure
Simon resides in St. Albans. His personal interests include theatre, music, tennis, and spending time with his family.
Lawyer Rankings
London > Private client > Family
(Leading partners)‘Both the Rolls Royce and the Ferrari of the family law world‘, Vardags stands out for its handling of ‘the most complex and difficult of cases‘. Firm founder and team head Ayesha Vardag
, an ‘extremely intelligent lawyer’ valued for her ‘wise insights and clever strategies‘, often supports ultra-high-net-worth clients in complex financial disputes. Simon McKirgan is a go-to for difficult cases, including jurisdiction disputes. The children team is headed up by Caroline Korah, who is ‘the perfect balance of empathetic and tough’ and experienced in both domestic and international matters. David Lister joined the team from Rayden Solicitors in July 2023, and is ‘a stalwart and legend in the field‘, while the group gained Robert Hines in November 2023, who is ‘a brilliant and gifted lawyer’, from Mishcon de Reya LLP. Antonia Barker and Lois Rogers departed the team in August 2023 to Hamblin Family Law LLP and Ribet Myles, respectively.