Vardags

Strategy

Dr Stephen Bence is Director of Strategy at Vardags (non lawyer). Stephen is also an expert in financial forensics, having previously contributed his financial expertise to some of the biggest family law cases running through the English courts. Within the remit of financial forensics, Stephen worked alongside Vardags’ lawyers to provide integrated financial and commercial advice throughout the proceedings.

Before joining Vardags, Stephen was an engagement manager at McKinsey & Co; Director of New Ventures at ANGLE Technology Ltd; Chairman of Business Funding Research Ltd; and Managing Director at Spin-out Strategy Ltd.

As head of the the financial forensics team, Stephen’s work has a significant impact on cases. In one case, acting for the financially weaker party, the court ultimately accepted a private company valuation almost double that given by the court’s original expert. In another case the other side accepted, without recourse to external experts, a valuation of a portfolio of companies at a 50% discount to book value, enabling settlement to be achieved without recourse to the court. In another case, acting for the wife, Stephen tracked tens of millions of pounds of assets held in offshore structures and demonstrated how, through an extremely complex series of transactions, they were in fact controlled by the husband.

Stephen’s work has been widely recognised – he is sought out for expert commentary on financial issues in divorce cases including television and print commentary, and has lectured for CLT and at the Jordans Family Law Conference alongside Nicholas Francis QC. He has been described in court by leading family law barrister Lewis Marks QC as a ‘financial genius’.

Reported cases include:

FRB v DCA [No. 2] [2020] EWHC 754 (Fam) FRB v DCA [2019] EWHC 2816 (Fam) Al-Baker v Al-Baker [2016] EWHC 2510 Al-Baker v Al-Baker [2015] EWHC 3725 (Fam) Al-Baker v Al-Baker [2015] EWHC 3229 (Fam) Quan v Bray & Anor [2015] EWCA Civ 1401 Quan v Bray & Anor [2015] EWCA Civ 1253 Quan v Bray & Ors [2014] EWHC 3340 (Fam) Chai v Peng & Ors [2017] EWHC 792 (Fam) Tan Sri Dr Khoo Peng v Pauline Siew Phin Chai [2015] EWCA Civ 1312 Chai v Peng [2014] EWHC 3519 Chai v Peng [2014] EWHC 3518 (Fam) Chai v Peng [2014] EWHC 1519 (Fam) Chai v Peng [2014] EWHC 750 (Fam) AM v SS [2014] EWHC 2887 (Fam) Met v Hat [2013] EWHC 4247 (Fam)

Stephen read Natural Sciences at Cambridge and has a PhD in Astrophysics from the university’s Cavendish Laboratory. His research focused on the formation of young stars.

Stephen enjoys listening to, organising, and occasionally performing classical music and opera.