WE BELIEVE IN CHANGE
The campaign was started in 2017 by Ayesha Vardag, “Britain’s top divorce lawyer”, to lobby for the introduction of ‘no-fault divorce’ in place of the current fault-based system. In her career as a top divorce lawyer she has seen countless couples struggling with divorce laws unfit for modern society.
The campaign seeks to work with lawyers, judges, academics and politicians to rationalise English divorce law. We want a system which acknowledges that the state should not seek to compel people to stay in unhappy marriages, but should create a system which allows adults to end their marriages in a supportive and amicable manner.
The campaign and its supporters have seen how current laws do nothing to support marriage, but instead demonise divorce, making it more difficult and acrimonious than it ever needs to be. These laws have a very real emotional and financial impact on the parties to a divorce and very frequently their children too.
We believe the best way to support families is not to cling to outdated mores, but rather reform divorce in a way which is fit for 21st century society.
“We want to help families by helping to remove unnecessary acrimony from divorce”
PEOPLE
Since then, she has led many of the biggest cases of the day, emerging victorious in the High Court, the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court and earning herself the title of “Britain’s top divorce lawyer” (The Telegraph). Her practice is unique in its combination of hard-hitting litigation, commercial savvy, strategic intellectual vision, no-nonsense pragmatism, and the empathy afforded by her own experience of divorce.
In her pursuit of legal reform, Ayesha has already made significant strides. Representing German heiress Katrin Radmacher, she won the landmark Supreme Court case of Radmacher v Granatino in 2010, which changed the law to make prenuptial agreements legally enforceable in England and Wales. For Ayesha, this “thoroughly modern judgment” was crucial in upholding the right to personal autonomy when planning for the future of a relationship. In recognition of her impact on UK matrimonial law, Ayesha was awarded the Natwest Everywoman Award in 2015 for “changing the legal landscape”.
A strong believer that UK law should enable couples to separate amicably, Ayesha has been steadfast in her support for no-fault divorce. As a respected authority on the matter she has provided expert opinion for publications such as The Telegraph, The Guardian and Huffpost and is now the proud founder of the Family Law Reform campaign.
John has a prolific media presence, having featured on BBC Radio 5 Live, London Live and the Victoria Derbyshire show -often utilising his platform to call for much-needed changes to family law. He has authored numerous articles for leading legal journals and his expert commentary has been sought after by The Independent, Metro and Lawyer Monthly, to name but a few.
