By LANDON THOMAS Jr.


LONDON - A Mr. Tooth on the phone for you, sir.

For years, just the word that London’s premier divorce lawyer, Raymond Tooth, was calling was enough to spread fear and loathing among a certain class of wealthy British men. It meant that no fortune, no matter how large and protected, was likely to remain intact.

And now, under the pressure of the financial crisis, more divorcing wives than ever are turning to Mr. Tooth to make sure they get as much money as they can, even as the fortress of their husbands’ riches crumbles.

“I have never been so busy,” Mr. Tooth said recently, as he sat behind a boat-size desk that could barely hold the bulging files of his clients.

Mr. Tooth, 69, is a small, soft-spoken lawyer with a gentlemanly mien - who is known to clients and adversaries alike as Jaws.

When it comes to defending the core principle of his mostly female clientele - that each spouse has an equal right to either’s wealth - he never lets go. “It is quite clear that a partnership between a husband and wife is a partnership of equals,” he said.

Clear enough for him and the spouses he champions, perhaps, but not always for their former partners. Mr. Tooth works in a world where men, wealthy financiers or world-famous celebrities, often earn the fortunes.

A recent prominent man to suffer his bite was Brian Myerson, a South African financier who once enjoyed a favorable reputation in London as an activist investor. Now he has a different reputation.

After finding out that Mr. Myerson was supporting a mistress and another child - living in the house next door - Ingrid Myerson, his wife of 26 years, filed for divorce. Mr. Myerson’s estate was valued at ￡25.8 million, or about $44.2 million. Ms. Myerson, with Mr. Tooth representing her, elected to receive ￡11 million ($17.1 million) in cash and some properties, while Mr. Myerson laid claim to ￡14 million ($21.7 million) in shares of the publicly traded investment fund he runs, Principle Capital Investment Trust.

When Principle Capital shares plunged 90 percent last fall, Mr. Myerson shocked legal circles here by petitioning an appeals court not only to absolve him of his remaining financial obligations, but also to compel his ex-wife to return the ￡11 million she had already been paid.

To no one’s surprise, his petition was rejected.

Mr. Tooth chuckles at Mr. Myerson’s audacity. It is one thing to ask the court for relief from future payments because of the financial downturn, but it is something else, he suggests with an arched eyebrow, to demand abrogation of the overall agreement, just because you called the market wrong.

British divorce lawyers say the Myerson decision set an important legal precedent and prevented what would have been an avalanche of similar claims had the appeal succeeded.

“He got greedy; he wanted to have the whole enchilada,” Mr. Tooth said. “And now he has had his fingers burnt.”

Mr. Tooth, who has been practicing since the 1960s, once said that “no sane, wealthy man should get married at all.” It is a bit of advice he, as a two-time divorce, has had trouble following himself.

But it is that experience, mixed with the soothing manner of a psychiatrist, that locks him in with his clients. They have included the wives of Jude Law and Eric Clapton and, it is speculated, the wife of the billionaire Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich. His services do not come cheap at ￡500, or $775, an hour.

Mr. Tooth starts with one simple piece of advice for his clients: Don’t be rash. “This is the most important financial decision a wife will make,” he said.

He swats aside any talk of retiring. Life is good: he has a stable of 50 racehorses, a country estate in Warwickshire and a house in Antigua.

“People don’t stick together in bad times,” he said with a smile. “It’s human nature.”


Business is booming for Raymond Tooth, a divorce lawyer to London’s wealthy.