Katharine Danby

Education

Katharine is a Chartered Accountant, accredited by the ICAEW. She has an MA Oxon in Psychology, Physiology and Philosophy from Balliol College, Oxford.

Career

In 2013, Katharine joined KPMG as a graduate trainee in their Forensic Accountancy - Investigations and Compliance department, formally qualifying as a Chartered Accountant in 2016. During her time at KPMG, she gained additional fraud accreditation certifications and worked extensively in global financial services and UK pharmaceuticals. Her role involved investigating claims of fraud, money laundering, and bribery, as well as conducting risk assessments and quality assurance for pharmaceutical companies. Her role also involved conducting internal audits for various companies, project management audit and year end auditing.

Katharine joined Vardags in 2018 and was quickly promoted through the ranks, making Partner in 2021, having led the Financial Forensics department since November 2019. She works with a every lawyer across all offices, and has worked on cases spanning a wealth of different industries, often with international reach. She has expertise in asset identification, location and valuation, including working with crypto-assets. She has also worked extensively on the valuation of private businesses, and the unpicking of complex company, share, and remuneration structures.

A firm believer in the idea that sometimes your best work means cases never making it to final hearing, she has, nevertheless, worked on a number of high profile, reported cases, including:

• FRB v DCA (No. 2) [2020] EWHC 754 (and the connected AB v CD [2021] EWFC 38) involving complex valuation of various businesses, spanning many industries, ownership structures and a global reach. The case had valuation arguments around minority discounting in familial quasi-partnerships, legal vs beneficial ownership, the impact on business valuation of micro- and macro-economics, property and lease disputes, Trust structures, and a multitude of other elements commonly impacting UHNW individuals and their business empires.
• GA v EL [2023] EWFC 206- which involved the impact of hindsight on the valuation exercise and how value at the time of separation should be reflected in a divorce occurring years later and post-sale of a business. This case has re-written the legal industry’s approach to post-separation accrual and the judgment in our favour goes against previous judgments such as DR v UG, highlighting the importance of a case turning on its own, specific merits.

Other notable, but not reported cases, where valuation have been central to the outcome include:

• A financial remedy case where the husband’s oil and gas business assets were initially valued by him at nil. Katharine valued them at circa £6m. A Single Joint Expert was instructed who valued them at £6m, but following questioning from the husband and the wife kept changing between £1 million and £6m. Ultimately, the case went to final hearing and Katharine was instrumental in preparing counsel with effective arguments and questions to secure an outcome for the wife of 60% of the marital assets, with the business being valued at £6m.
• A £200 million case involving hidden assets, trust structures and properties, resulting in a 50% out of court settlement in cash and property for the wife.
• A case hinging upon the location and quantification of hidden assets with an £80 million discrepancy in estimated values, identifying undisclosed assets for judicial consideration. This case required a great deal of forensic accountancy to identify, locate and then value these undisclosed assets.

Throughout her career, she has focused on valuation and asset tracing, adapting to the evolving landscape of forensic investigation. Katharine’s real passion is ensuring that all parties to a proceeding fully understand the landscape and operations of the businesses involved. Only through establishing this baseline of understanding is it possible for parties to have effective negotiations around realistic valuations of the assets involved. A large part of this work comes from her ability to ‘speak the language’ of both technical experts such as accountants and lawyers but also explain this in layman’s terms in order to assist clients and the court. She has been involved in strategy development and client engagement, ensuring thorough and effective forensic accounting services. Her work has always been about bridging the gap between clients and advisors, providing cost-effective and efficient solutions.

Personal

Katharine played field hockey for her county when she was younger but now spends most of her free time with her young son swimming, playing rugby and football and getting stuck in soft play centres.

Client Testimonials 

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