Heather Mills is intensifying her bitter war with her husband’s divorce lawyer Fiona Shackleton.
Having thrown a jug of water over Mrs Shackleton at the High Court yesterday, Miss Mills is now threatening to report her to the Law Society for professional misconduct over allegations that she called her names.
Miss Mills threw water over her former husband’s lawyer and then laughingly announced that she had been “baptised in court.” (Check out the before and after above)
But Mrs Shackleton may well have the last laugh as she is rumoured to have earned £3million from the McCartney case.
Miss Mills’ water-throwing tantrum was followed by an astonishing 12-minute rant on the court steps.
She accused Mrs Shackleton, nicknamed the “Steel Magnolia”, of “calling me many, many names before even meeting me when I was in a wheelchair”.
According to sources, Miss Mills is planning to report Mrs Shackleton to the Law Society, the body that regulates solicitors, over alleged comments made during negotiations leading up to yesterday’s settlement.
A source said: “Mills believes that Shackleton accused her of trying it on by appearing at one legal meeting in a wheelchair to gain sympathy.
“More than anyone else, Mills felt this woman had a personal grudge against her. She felt personally attacked by Fiona Shackleton.”
Mrs Shackleton, her reputation now secured as perhaps the finest and certainly most feared divorce lawyer in the country, could for her part take the fight to Mrs Mills.
The source said: “If Fiona Shackleton wants to, she could press for Heather Mills to be found in contempt of court.”
Mrs Shackleton, who also represented Prince Charles in his divorce, has refused to comment, pointing out it is her policy never to speak to the media.
Miss Mills’ outburst came after she was awarded only a fifth of the £125million she had been seeking.
The £25million settlement amounts to more than £700 for every hour that she was married to Sir Paul.
But she was furious at the judge’s decision to grant his request that the full judgment in the case be made public, and today lost her appeal against the move.
Miss Mills is understood to have hurled a glass of water at Sir Paul’s lawyer after accusing her of “letting down womankind” by representing men in the divorce courts.
Mrs Shackleton, whose normally immaculate blonde coiffure was wet and bedraggled, left the Royal Courts of Justice through a rear exit with Sir Paul.
He said simply: “I have no comment. All will be revealed.”
By this time Miss Mills was on the front steps delivering an angry tirade against her ex, his lawyers, her lawyers and the entire legal system.
She confirmed that she had been awarded £24.3million compared with the £125million which court papers revealed she had demanded.
The amount is made up of a £14million lump sum, calculated as an annual allowance of £600,000, plus another £2.5million to buy a London home.
The rest comprises assets she will keep from the marriage totalled at £7.8million, which include a property in East Sussex where she lives with their four-year-old daughter Beatrice.
In addition, she will receive £35,000 a year for Beatrice’s expenses until she reaches 18. That figure does not include childcare or schooling, which Sir Paul will also fund.
Miss Mills’s chances of gaining £125million collapsed after the judge ruled that the musician was worth £400million rather than the £800million she had claimed.
It was also reduced after Sir Paul’s legal team argued successfully that they did not live together before they married.
McCartney’s lawyers turned out to be worth their weight in gold.
They advised him to take a gamble and back out of a £50million mutually-agreed settlement on the basis that they thought a High Court judge would award a lot less. It was advice which saved him some £25million.
In her impromptu press conference, Miss Mills criticised the ruling that Sir Paul was worth £400million, saying: “We all know he’s worth £800million.
“He’s been worth £800million for the last 15 years.”
She then criticised the judge for believing that they never lived together before they married, citing electoral roll evidence to the contrary.
Normally in cases at the Family Court, matters remain private but Sir Paul is said to be keen to end the speculation over his finances and wants the details out in the open.
However Miss Mills argues that it will put her and their daughter’s security at risk by revealing where she will go to school.
In a barbed remark, she said her ex-husband wanted the details published because “he wants to look like this generous Sir Paul.”
Today, in the Court of Appeal, a panel of three judges will decide whether to uphold yesterday’s decision to publish the full ruling.
The court also made an order yesterday stating that, save for the release of the judgment, neither party could reveal details of the case without obtaining the consent of the other.
Family law expert Donna Dean said Miss Mills had already shown “scant regard” for this order.
“Her comments outside court could land her in hot water. If she has breached this order then she could be in contempt and hauled back before the judge to explain herself.
“It would have been much more sensible and dignified for her to have kept quiet and walked away content with her lot.”
Last night, Miss Mills removed all references to her ex-husband from her website and changed her name on it from Heather Mills McCartney to Heather Mills.
A close friend said that in private she was devastated about being awarded so little. “In court it is clear that she just got too cocky.
“The worst thing she could have done was represent herself. On quite a few occasions, Heather was just too brusque with the judge and would talk over him.
High Court judges don’t take kindly to being ranted at. Heather just came across as incredibly greedy.”
