The celebrity divorce attorney has a client list that includes Jennifer Aniston, Angelina Jolie, Kim Kardashian, Anna Faris and Jennifer Garner, and she shares with ET her tricks of the trade from some of Hollywood's biggest splits.
For divorce attorney Laura Wasser, meeting celebrities has practically become an everyday occurrence. Dubbed the “Disso Queen” (for Dissolution of Marriage), Wasser’s Rolodex reads like an article straight out of Entertainment Tonight, with a client list that includes Jennifer Aniston, Angelina Jolie, Kim Kardashian West, Anna Faris and Jennifer Garner, to name a few.
“Most of the referrals I get are from celeb representatives,” Wasser tells ET of how she earned her A-list clientele. “I make it as pleasant as possible under the circumstances and they may say to one of their friends, ‘She was good, go to her.’”
‘Good’ might be a bit of an understatement, and after being a divorce attorney to the stars for over two decades, Wasser has picked up quite a few tricks along the way.
“It is not a coincidence that [celebrities file for divorce] on a Friday afternoon before a holiday weekend,” Wasser confesses. “Our hope is that it slips through the news cycle rather than on a Monday, where you are hearing about it for the entire week.”
Another interesting tidbit? By the time you hear about a celeb couple filing for divorce, they often have already hashed out the settlement details beforehand. “We advise couples in the limelight to see if we can get as much as possible resolved before we [file the court documents]," Wasser says.
“When we file the paperwork, it is usually after things have been in the pipeline for some time and have it all really done on the DL without anybody having to know about it, read about it or see it,” she adds.
In some particularly nasty divorces, often involving tense custody arrangements, attorneys have been known to hire private investigators to dig up “dirt” on the opposing team – but with celebrities, they have a surprising ally: the tabloids.
“It would not be favorable to have many pictures of you in the paparazzi staggering out of a club,” Wasser says, while admitting it wouldn’t necessarily be viewed as reliable evidence. “For the most part, a DUI would be good evidence or somebody actually saying that you’ve checked into rehab.”
The only thing a celebrity hates more than a bad paparazzi photo leaking online? Hearing the word no. “I am sometimes the only person that will tell a celebrity no,” Wasser shares with a laugh. “They surround themselves with teams of people that say yes to them and they receive a portion of whatever income that person is making. That’s not my job,” she says. “I think they appreciate being told no if that’s the more realistic response. And I’ve gotten good at it.”
All of these tips don’t exactly come cheap, however. Wasser’s firm charges $850 an hour with a whopping $25,000 retainer fee. “It costs too much to have Laura Wasser represent you,” Wasser cheekily says.
And it is for that reason why Wasser is taking on a new venture, a DIY divorce platform that you can access right from your home computer, ItsOverEasy.com, officially launching on Thursday.
“I think there is a real need for the information regarding family law and the process to be able to get divorced online easily…as opposed to just the people that can afford to pay our very high hourly rates,” Wasser explains.
“We have an entire content section which has articles written by people who have gone through it…you can actually go on and read about it and get an education before you decide to do anything and that is totally free,” she says.
In addition to being able to file your own divorce documents, the website is also embedded with videos of Wasser herself explaining the ins and outs of divorce. The site even includes a custody calendar, making it easy to communicate and stay in touch with your co-parent.
For Wasser, she believes this is a no-brainer for younger couples looking to end their marriage. “Particularly that millennial generation loves doing things online. They shop online, they bank online, they date online, so why wouldn’t they want to get divorced online?”
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