Kim Kardashian West’s Divorce Lawyer Laura Wasser on What Makes a Marriage Work

In our series My Monday Morning, self-motivated people tell WSJ. how they start off the week.

Divorce looks different during the pandemic. One memorable image of this time is the screenshot of Mary-Kate Olsen and Olivier Sarkozy’s Zoom divorce hearing that went viral last month. Seeing such high-profile proceedings unfold on the same video-call software that’s used for office all-hands meetings and conference calls was a novelty for many. But celebrity divorce attorney Laura Wasser of Wasser, Cooperman & Mandles is enjoying the efficiency of it. “The nature of family law has always been a lot of in-person, handholding, meetings face-to-face,” she says. “I can [have] five or six meetings a day on Zoom, which I never could have done [before].”

Wasser, 52, doesn’t represent Olsen or Sarkozy, but on Friday, she filed divorce papers for Kim Kardashian West in her long-rumored divorce from Kanye West. It’s her second time representing Kardashian West; the first was the social media star and entrepreneur’s second divorce, from Kris Humphries in 2013. Wasser’s other clients have included Britney Spears in her 2007 divorce from Kevin Federline; Angelina Jolie when the actor filed for divorce from Brad Pitt in 2016 (the proceedings are still ongoing); and, in 2018, both Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck, who hired Wasser to mediate their divorce instead of opting for separate lawyers. She’s also currently representing Armie Hammer, whose wife, Elizabeth Chambers, filed for divorce last year.

The lawyer’s work with household names has earned the tabloid nickname “Disso Queen” (short for dissolution of marriage). Wasser was married once, in 1993, for one year; she has two sons, a 15-year-old and 11-year-old. In Noah Baumbach’s 2019 divorce-focused movie Marriage Story, the family law attorney played by Laura Dern is rumored to be based on Wasser, who represented Baumbach’s ex-wife actor Jennifer Jason Leigh in their divorce. Wasser also runs the online divorce platform It’s Over Easy, which helps couples with uncontested divorces file online. She calls the website a passion project, saying it doesn’t make her any money. Here, she speaks to WSJ. about the strangest thing she’s ever arranged for and why she’s never been able to meditate.

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