Emma Gill > Vardags > Manchester, England > Lawyer Profile
Vardags Offices
SHIP CANAL HOSUE
98 KING STREET
MANCHESTER
M2 4WU
England
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Emma Gill
Work Department
Divorce and family law
Position
Emma Gill is a Senior Partner and Head of Vardags’ Manchester office. She specialises in complex matrimonial finance cases, frequently dealing with issues arising from share valuations, option schemes, trusts, foreign properties and pension funds. Emma also acts in financial claims for unmarried partners and is experienced in children matters, often advising on child contact arrangements and relocation within the UK and overseas. Emma’s tough, pragmatic, but sensitive approach has earned her regular recommendations in legal directories since 2009. Legal 500 has previously described her as ‘tenacious in her dealings with tricky legal issues and helpfully no-nonsense in her approach’ and named Emma’s office ‘one to watch in Manchester’.
Accustomed to high-profile cases, Emma’s clients include CEOs of multi-million pound companies, footballers and their spouses, entrepreneurs and business owners. Emma’s clients mainly hail from Northern cities and their environs, but she also has a healthy London practice.
Career
After qualifying in 2005, Emma achieved the position of associate partner then equity partner in a national law firm in under eight years. After three years as equity partner, Emma joined Vardags as a Director and Head of the Manchester office in June 2016.
Emma appears regularly on BBC Breakfast, the Victoria Derbyshire Show, Radio 5 Live and local BBC radio stations throughout the country. Her written commentary on family law, the northern power house, and autism has featured in The Times, The Guardian, Family Law, Prima, and other business press. She has featured in articles for the Manchester Evening News who described her as ‘Manchester’s celebrity divorce lawyer’.
Memberships
Manchester Law Society
Education
The University of Manchester (2001 LLB); College of Law, Chester.
Leisure
Emma resides in Lancashire.
Lawyer Rankings
North West > Private client > Family
(Leading partners)Full-service family practice Vardags in Manchester has ‘a strong reputation for handling complex and high-net-worth family law cases’, and the group regularly acts for a variety of high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth clients on the financial aspects arising from relationship breakdowns, such as divorce and financial remedy proceedings, as well as the full range of children matters. The team often advises on cases with an international element and leverages the knowledge of the firm’s financial forensic and property departments. Praised by one client as ‘the best divorce lawyer anyone could ever instruct‘, practice head Emma Gill is an expert in divorce and matrimonial finance. The group also includes family finance specialist Gareth Curtis, Lucy Williams, who advises on all matters relating to divorce and complex children work, including parental alienation and abduction, and Annemarie Bradley, who ‘works tirelessly for her clients and simply goes above and beyond‘ in both financial and children matters. The ‘unbelievably supportive‘ Nikki Hale, who specialises in complex financial cases, is another key practitioner. Former Poole Alcock LLP lawyers Amie Pine, who specialises in financial matters, including those in the agricultural sector, and Nicola Jones, who brings extensive experience in both finance and children matters, joined the group in November 2023.
East Anglia > Private client > Family
Specialist family law firm Vardags has an increasingly prominent role in the Cambridge market. Though its group is led from Manchester by Emma Gill, the local office has two experienced associates in the ‘truly excellent‘ Rebecca Fenner and new hire Anna Jones, who joined from Tees Law. They frequently handle cases involving assets in the £3-£20m range and above, often involving cross-border elements. Jones is known for acting with ‘utmost professionalism and respect, whilst ensuring effective outcomes for her clients‘. The firm’s capabilities include standout valuation, financial forensics, criminal, and civil litigation expertise, as well as proficiency in media, privacy and defamation matters.