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MPWMost Powerful Women

Meet the Celebrity Divorce Lawyer Helping Angelina Jolie Split From Brad Pitt

By
Valentina Zarya
Valentina Zarya
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By
Valentina Zarya
Valentina Zarya
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September 20, 2016, 1:58 PM ET
ABC's "The View" - Season 17
Photograph by Lou Rocco—ABC via Getty Images

Brangelina will soon be no longer—with lots of help from one woman.

On Tuesday, reports surfaced that Angelina Jolie has filed for divorce from Brad Pitt, her husband of two years and partner of eight. According to TMZ, the actress is represented by divorce lawyer Laura Wasser, who previously represented Jolie during her divorce from Billy Bob Thornton.

Widely known as a celebrity divorce lawyer, or as Bloomberg called her last year: “Hollywood’s complete divorce solution,” Wasser is a partner at her family’s Los Angeles-based law firm Wasser, Cooperman & Mandles. According to the publication, she charges $850 per hour, requires a $25,000 retainer, and mostly represents people worth more than $10 million. The firm did not respond to Fortune‘s request for comment.

 

In addition to Jolie, Wasser’s other celeb clients have included Denise Richards (in her divorce from Charlie Sheen), Nick Lachey (Jessica Simpson), Maria Shriver (Arnold Schwarzenegger), and “at least three Kardashians,” according to Bloomberg. Most recently, she represented Johnny Depp during his now-settled divorce from Amber Heard.

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So what makes Wasser so popular with the celebrity set? According to a number of profiles of the attorney, it’s her toughness—and her ability to keep each case “a business transaction,” as she told E! Online in 2013. In another interview in DAME Magazine, she stated point-blank that she’s not there to offer her clients emotional support: “I tell them that a) your therapist costs less than I do, and b) what do I know? I’ve got two kids with two different dads, I’m not the person to give you relationship advice.”

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