As Seen in AVENUE, January 2006

THE DEANS OF DIVORCE TEN QUESTIONS FOR NEW YORK’S MOST SOUGHT AFTER MATRIMONIAL LAWYERS

n the high stakes world of New York City divorces, the saying, “All’s fair in love and war,” can seem especially by ERINN BUCKLAN apropos. Consider some of our city’s most notorious divorce stories: For instance, Donald and Ivana ITrump’s highly publicized 1992 split, during which have to maintain.” This often means ruthless financial Ivana coined the slogan, “Don’t get mad, get everything.” negotiations that put the emotional upheaval of divorce on Their 13-month legal feud ended with Ivana reportedly the back burner. getting $25 million (of which $10 million was in cash) from One of the most public displays of disaffection in recent The Apprentice showman. And who could forget the divorce years was the 1997 divorce of Ronald Perelman and Patricia proceedings that resulted in the East Hampton murder of Duff. Duff reportedly demanded a cool $7 million a year in finance tycoon Ted Ammon by convicted handyman (and child support for their daughter Caleigh. In the end, despite reported lover of Ammon’s wife) Danny Pelosi? reportedly plowing through 20 divorce lawyers in the To the casual onlooker, the trail of high drama, headline- process, Duff came away with less than $150,000 a year in grabbing divorces seems virtually endless. But ask the men child support. and women in the trenches, the divorce lawyers who take Some cases attract our attention, not for the battle over on these high-profile cases, and they’ll tell you that bucks, but because they offer a glimpse into the lifestyles of knock-down, drag-out divorces are not as common as you the rich and famous: Woody Allen’s very public breakup may think. Thanks to prenuptial agreements and a trend with Mia Farrow revolved around the shocking news that toward post-divorce mediation, many couples are moving to he’d taken up with Farrow’s adopted daughter during the a more civilized dissolution of their civil unions. Even so, course of the marriage. Others underscore just how fictional when the time does come for high-powered New Yorkers to a storybook romance can be. After a lavish, three-day, vnemgzn · january 2006 avenue magazine untie the knot, the city is still the big-money, big-power $4 million bacchanalia that doubled as the wedding of divorce capital of the United States. “Let’s face it, it’s a really Alexandra Miller (daughter of duty-free tycoon Robert expensive place to live, and you need a lot of money to Miller) to Alexandre von Furstenberg in 1996, the couple’s live with dignity,” says Elizabeth Hayt, author of I’m No marriage disintegrated in 2003. Saint: A Nasty Little Memoir of Love and Leaving.“It’s a The common denominators in all these cases are, of competitive city, so it demands a public persona that you course, the attorneys who take on the task of divvying up the assets of New York’s wealthiest individuals. Here, we speak to seven of the city’s best matrimonial lawyers on mining the battlefields of modern divorce, Manhattan-style. Famous Clients

Claudia Cohen Geraldo Rivera Vanessa Williams Diana Ross

STANFORD G. LOTWIN blank rome, llp AVOIDING THE SCORCHED-EARTH APPROACH

FAMOUS CLIENTS: Margaret Canby, Donald Trump, YOUR MOST UNFORGETTABLE CASE: I’ve seen men Joan Lunden, Claudia Cohen, Geraldo Rivera, Carl leave the state and their profession rather than Icahn, Diana Ross, Vanessa Williams comply with paying support. Once a man even drove himself into bankruptcy just to avoid paying YOUR BEST ADVICE TO NEW CLIENTS: Don’t use his former spouse. On two occasions, a husband your children as a pawn. It’s expected that people murdered the wife over a divorce. On two other will fight about money and property, but don’t occasions, there were suicides. So pick your horror. argue about children. The children are not getting a L divorce just because their parents are. Work THE NEWEST DIVORCE TREND: Alternate dispute together to come to terms about co-parenting. resolution, something I believe will shortly be law. I find the battle in reference to money and assets It requires that a couple get some sort of mediation comes to an end with an agreement or judgment. before going forward to the court. It emphasizes the But the battle in reference to the children can go on spirit of wanting to settle rather than going into for many years. litigation, and we don’t have that now in New York. But you can’t settle until both parties are THE NUMBER OF DIVORCE CASES YOU DO A YEAR: emotionally prepared, and mediation helps them About 25. come to terms with resolving their differences.

WHAT YOU LIKE MOST ABOUT YOUR JOB: We’re like YOUR STRENGTH: I’m patient. My reputation with psychologists without the diplomas, but with the bench and the Bar says I’m a gentleman. on-the-job training. I’ve been able to help a great I have found that as a gentleman you can be more variety of people from different backgrounds and successful than lawyers who believe in the different positions during their most emotionally scorched-earth approach.

difficult times. · january 2006 avenue magazine YOUR FEE: $600 an hour, but the retainer depends WHAT MAKES DIVORCE LAW DIFFERENT FROM on the complexity of the case. OTHER KINDS OF LAW: You become so close to your clients’ lives—that’s something that is not available to commercial lawyers. And having been fortunate enough to represent many of the rich and famous, I’ve been required to learn the ins and outs of various businesses in dispute.