I Was Virginia Giuffre's Lawyer and This Is the Astonishing Roadblock I Faced Over Suing Prince Andrew

Sigrid McCawley said she was repeatedly warned off pursuing ex-Prince Andrew when she tried to sue him on behalf of Virginia Giuffre – advice OK! can reveal she found extraordinary and refused to accept as the Epstein scandal engulfed the British royal family.

McCawley, 53, a Florida-based attorney, represented Giuffre, who accused Andrew of sexually abusing her as a teenager – allegations he has always denied.

Speaking about the early stages of the civil case, McCawley recalled being told legal action against a senior royal was effectively impossible. "They were like, 'Well, you can't serve him,'" she said. "That was just so striking to me."

But a lawsuit was filed in the U.S. in 2021 and named Andrew, now 65, who at the time was living at Royal Lodge in Berkshire.

Giuffre, who died by suicide in April at age 41, alleged she was trafficked to Andrew by Jeffrey Epstein and forced to have s-- with him in London, New York and the Caribbean.

Andrew – now known only as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor after King Charles stripped him of his royal titles due to his association with Epstein – has consistently denied wrongdoing.

McCawley added she was baffled not only by the idea that a lawsuit could not be served, but also by claims from Andrew's representatives that he was unaware of legal proceedings that were dominating headlines.

"Maybe it's living in the United States and feeling like we have laws," she said. "I think that there's just a different environment over there (in Britain), where family matters or your name matters."

She also questioned the response of British authorities. "The Met (police) could have done more than they did," McCawley declared.

She added: "I felt like the Met failed (Giuffre) a number of times."

McCawley, who lives and works in Fort Lauderdale, said Giuffre regarded her as a close ally, describing her in her memoir as a "sister-in-arms."

After meeting Giuffre in New York in 2015, McCawley said she had no doubt about her credibility. "I feel like I've got a decent social IQ, you know?" she said. "And I knew immediately that she was telling the truth, one hundred percent."

Her work on the case brought her into direct confrontation with Epstein's longtime associate Ghislaine Maxwell, whom Giuffre also sued.

McCawley described deposing Maxwell in Manhattan, saying she arrived with "this air of entitlement."

During the deposition, now-jailed madam Maxwell is said to have pounded the table so hard the court reporter's equipment fell over. "Ms Maxwell very inappropriately and very harshly pounded our law firm table," McCawley said.

McCawley also described encounters with Epstein himself, including one in which he appeared behind her in an elevator. "It was so clearly an intimidation tactic," she said. She later noticed a van following her home from work and said Epstein sometimes adopted a flirtatious tone when intimidation failed.

Maxwell was jailed for 20 years in 2022 for conspiring with Epstein to sexually abuse minors, following a case built in part on Giuffre's civil action.

As for Andrew, McCawley said a judge eventually lost patience with claims he had not been served. "We had a great judge who was like, 'This is nonsense… he clearly knows about it,'" she said.

Settlement talks followed, with Giuffre seeking not only financial compensation but acknowledgment of harm. "I did cry, and she cried," McCawley said of the moment an agreement was reached. "You have someone's life, you know, and the value of that life and the trauma they went through and validating that is so heavy."

Reflecting on years of disbelief surrounding Giuffre's claims, McCawley added: "I guess maybe that's human nature. They don't want to think that these atrocious things happen, but they do."