The high profile divorce lawyer Helen Ward has upped sticks after 18 years at Manches to join Stewarts Law, along with seven other members of her team.

Ward has represented the likes of Guy Ritchie and Bernie Ecclestone, and is probably the biggest name in family law after "Iron Begonia" Fiona Shackleton. So her departure, along with four associates and three others, is seen as a serious blow to Manches which also lost three of its star litigation partners to Stewarts back in 2009.

The Manches family team yesterday

Family and private client work brings in 39% of Manches' revenue and is also its most profitable practice. And the loss of Ward follows a tricky few years. Between 2006 and 2009 the firm managed to lose six department heads and turnover fell year on year to a five year low of £30.6m in 2011. In July the CEO who had been hired to fix the firm's problems, Judit Petho, quit after just 18 months. And her predecessor Alexandrina Le Clezio managed just six months in the job. Then there was the £7m overdraft taken on in 2010, the 2011 round of redundancies and a real estate associate prosecuted for pilfering £60k.

A spokeswoman for Manches said "Helen Ward is leaving Manches in November. Helen has made a significant contribution to our firm and out family department since she joined 18 years ago".