Shortly after being appointed a high court judge in the family division, Jennifer Roberts was selected to hear a complex, financial dispute that produced the largest ever settlement in a British divorce case at that time.
The courtroom battle between the philanthropist and hedge fund manager Sir Christopher Hohn and his estranged wife Jamie Cooper-Hohn also featured significant arguments about what the media should be able to report from private hearings.
The carefully reasoned decision by Roberts, who has died aged 71 of cancer, removed the blanket ban on press coverage. Until then journalists had been allowed to sit in divorce cases but were unable to report most of what they witnessed. In a later 105-page ruling, the judge awarded £337m to the former wife – a judgment that strengthened the UK’s reputation as the world’s divorce capital.
What was not apparent at the time was that Roberts had shortly before been diagnosed with breast cancer. Such was her commitment to ensuring that the trial proceeded efficiently and smoothly that she delayed undergoing surgery and chemotherapy. “She said it would just have to wait ‘until I hear this case first’,” a former colleague recalled.
An expert in financial matrimonial cases, Roberts was also chosen to hear the widely reported divorce contest between the one-time Pirelli calendar model Christina Estrada and her wealthy husband Sheikh Walid Juffali.
Estrada was cross-examined in court over her claim that she required £1m a year for clothes, including £40,000 for fur coats, £109,000 for haute couture dresses and £21,000 for shoes. Her lawyers argued that she also needed £60m for a luxury London home and £495,000 for cars in London and the US. Estrada’s request for £238m in total was subsequently dismissed by Roberts as “inflated”; instead she received a payout of £53m.
Roberts was a trailblazer, taking an unusual route to the law. Already a wife and mother when she became a barrister, she frequently acted as mentor to younger colleagues, who would gravitate to her chambers room to seek advice. Nicknamed “Duchess” for her graceful appearance, she often wore a Hermès scarf but was also renowned for her professional dedication and capacity for hard work.
She was born in Southampton. Her parents, Mary (nee Kelway Pope) and Michael Halden, met and married in Khartoum after the end of the second world war. He had served in the Royal Navy on North Atlantic convoys; she had been in the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force. Sudan was then a British protectorate. The eldest of three children, Jenny spent her early years in Khartoum where her father worked for Shell. The family returned to Hampshire after Sudan was granted independence, settling in Highcliffe-on-Sea on the edge of the New Forest.
She attended Fernhill Manor school in Hampshire. Rather than going directly to university, she moved to London where she modelled and joined Island Records. Years later she recalled meeting Led Zeppelin, Cat Stevens and other artists.
At the age of 19 she married her childhood sweetheart, Richard Roberts, who also lived in Highcliffe. He was a musician but later became a recruitment executive working in the oil and gas industry. They had two daughters and settled in the New Forest. In her early 30s, with both children at school, Roberts decided to study law at Southampton University; her maternal grandfather had been a solicitor in the city.
She would drop her children at school then drive to lectures. She was awarded a first-class degree in 1986 and chose to become a barrister. She was called to the bar by Inner Temple in 1988. Family law attracted her and she joined chambers at Queen Elizabeth Building in London, a set which specialises in divorce, child and matrimonial cases.
Although she entered the legal profession relatively late in life, her success was rapid. Roberts was made a recorder (part-time judge) on the western circuit in 2000, hearing criminal and civil cases. Her practice flourished, clients appreciating her empathy, compassion and legal skills. She was appointed a QC in 2009 and in 2014 became a high court judge in the family division, when she was made a dame.
Her progress continued despite having to cope with family tragedy. Her youngest brother, Flying Officer Ian Halden, had been killed in 1991 when the Phantom fighter jet he was flying from the Falkland Islands disappeared over the South Atlantic. In 2004, her husband died of cancer.
Roberts was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2014.
Last September she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer but continued hearing cases for a while, and until earlier this year worked from home on court papers. In April, she insisted on appearing at a celebration to mark the appointment of new family law silks including one of her former pupils.
“She was bright, she was funny and she was kind,” said Dame Sue Carr, the lady chief justice of England and Wales. “She was a tremendously popular high court judge.” Roberts was awarded an honorary doctorate by Southampton University in 2017.
She is survived by her two daughters, Melanie and Sophie, her six grandchildren and her brother Simon.
