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Laura Wasser is a vision. She has long brown hair, big brown eyes and a petite figure. You’ll never catch her in anything but the latest designer threads. She frequents Hollywood’s coolest bars and restaurants and rubs shoulders with the A-list. But Wasser isn’t an actress, model or fashion designer…
She’s Hollywood’s powerhouse divorce lawyer – the attorney who handles only the most high-profile celebrity splits, representing everyone from Ryan Reynolds to Kim Kardashian. And Johnny Depp has just enlisted her help for his divorce from Amber Heard.
In case you missed it, after 15 months of marriage, 30-year-old Heard filed for divorce from Depp last week. Amidst allegations of domestic abuse and blackmail, it’s safe to say that things are getting messy… really messy.
Understandably, Depp wanted the best lawyer possible in his corner.
Wasser is ruthless in the defence of her clients. She publicly responded to Heard’s request for a protective order by saying, “Amber is attempting to secure a premature financial resolution by alleging abuse.”
“Her current application for a temporary restraining order along with her financial requests appears to be in response to the negative media attention she received earlier this week after filing for divorce,” Wasser continued. “Yet Johnny cannot protect himself or Amber from media scrutiny, and Amber’s anger certainly cannot drive this dissolution proceeding.”
The divorce attorney’s previous clients include – but are not limited to – Drew Barrymore, Jennifer Garner, Angelina Jolie, Melanie Griffith and Stevie Wonder, along with all three of the Kardashian sisters.
At this stage in her career, Wasser isn’t cheap. She charges US$850 per hour, requires a US$25 000 retainer and rarely takes on a client worth less than US$10 million.
So, why does the A-list love her so? Well, she knows a thing or two about handling the media. Wasser waits for high profile cases to pile up and submits them to the court together, so that the media attention is diluted. This explains why we often see a flurry of break-announcements splashed across headlines.
She also usually advises clients to settle their cases out of courts. Wasser worked with Melanie Griffith to keep the public fallout of her divorce from Antonio Banderas to a minimum. “We worked on it [the divorce] for a good year and a half before it came out on TMZ,” Griffith said. “And when we did file it, there were some personal things that were agreed upon by Antonio and myself that we had removed from the official papers so they wouldn’t get out.”
When it comes to divorce, Wasser is Hollywood’s go-to girl. Johnny Depp appears to be in safe hands.
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