Reading, writing… hold the arithmetic

Many an innumerate lawyer will admit that they chose their profession—or it chose them—because they were terrified of accountancy. Nevertheless, numbers big and small are the stock in trade of law. What follows are the numbers that have caught my eye over the years.

£453,576,152 was awarded to Mrs Akhmedova in December 2016, following her divorce from a Russian oligarch. He has not paid up, and we have just seen the claimant secure an award of £75m against her son, who was found to have helped his father put assets beyond the reach of his mother (Akhmedova v Akhmedov and others [2021] EWHC 545 (Fam)).

£104,707,772.72 was largest ever known bill of costs and the subject of appeal in Motto v Trafigura Ltd [2011] EWCA Civ 1150, [2011] All ER (D) 138 (Oct). Lord Neuberger, then Master of the Rolls, noted at para [26] of the judgment that the defendant was ‘dismayed’ to be presented