• Deng has retained top New York divorce lawyer William Zabel
• Murdoch's third wife hopes to get their $44million apartment and one of their yachts
• Zabel currently represents billionaire financier Goerge Soros in a lawsuit brought up by one his ex-girlfriends

Wendi Deng has hired a top New York divorce lawyer in her split with Rupert Murdoch suggesting things could became messy and expensive.

Deng has retained William Zabel whose clients include billionaire financier George Soros and the late author Michael Crichton.

She reportedly interviewed eight potential attorneys before choosing him.

Mr Murdoch, 82, has turned to high-flying lawyer and friend Pamela Sloan who advised Miss Deng on her prenuptial agreement with him when they married in 1999.

He is also taking counsel from New York attorney Ira Garr and Gerson Zweifach, the the general counsel of his companies News Corporation and 21st Century Fox.

Mr Murdoch will be hoping to avoid a repeat of his split from his second wife Anna which cost more than $1.7billion, one of the most expensive divorces in history.

And even though Mr Murdoch and Miss Deng did sign a prenuptial and two post-nuptial agreements, there is still room for discussion over issues like custody and child support for their daughters, Grace, 11, and Chloe, nine.

Miss Deng, 44, will also reportedly want a share of some assets like their $44million Manhattan penthouse and one of their yachts, though it is not clear which of his fleet that would mean.

Another issue is the Murdoch family trust - Mr Murdoch announced in 2006 that Grace and Chloe would not have the same voting rights as his other children, something which angered Miss Deng.

Mr Zabel is already representing Mr Soros in the $50million lawsuit brought by his former girlfriend who has claimed that he ‘snapped’ and throttled her whilst they were in bed together.

Adrianna Ferreyr, 30, has claimed that the 82-year-old choked and slapped her during a row over property.

Mr Zabel has also represented Jane Beasley Welch during her acrimonious split from her husband John, the former chief executive of General Electric, and US shock jock Howard Stern.

A spokesman for Miss Deng confirmed that Mr Zabel had been hired but declined to comment further.