Sarah is a very experienced public law practitioner who has represented the government both as sole and junior counsel in a wide range of high profile judicial review cases and has acted as amicus to the High Court and Court of Appeal on test cases regarding injunctive restraint of protestors. Recent work has focused on professional discipline in the public arena and on a major independent investigation for the Archbishops' Council of the Church of England.

Following a sabbatical in 2021-22 in which she trained as a teacher and obtained a PGCE, she has focused increasingly on education issues, advising and representing regulators, individuals and employers. She has a particular interest in special educational needs and EHCP provision in primary schools.

Alongside this, Sarah maintains a broad practice in regulatory and disciplinary work, advising individuals, government departments and regulators at the highest level. She is frequently led in a wide range of cases in the High Court, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court. Most of her time in 2017-18 was occupied with the fifth claim in the Chagos Islanders litigation which resulted in four separate judgments in the High Court and Court of Appeal in 2018-19. Before coming to the Bar, she was an academic historian and a Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford from 1996 to 2011.

Sarah is ranked as a leading junior for public and employment law in one of the leading independent legal directories, Legal 500. Recent comments include:

  • "A junior who works incredibly hard and is an excellent advocate."- Legal 500, 2024
  • "A junior with commercial nous."- Legal 500, 2024

Previous comments include: 

  • "An excellent public law junior with great drafting skills and fantastic attention to detail. An accomplished advocate who holds her own against far more senior silks." - Legal 500, 2023
  • "Exceptionally intelligent, strategically wise, and a strong advocate."- Legal 500, 2023

Experience

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Public & Regulatory

Sarah acted as amicus to the Court of Appeal in a case concerning injunctive relief against protestors: Canada Goose Retail Ltd v Persons Unknown [2020] EWCA Civ 303 and a linked case in the High Court: Barking and Dagenham LBC v Persons Unknown [2021] EWHC 1201 (QB).

Sarah has advised individuals, government departments and regulators at the highest level, as sole counsel and as junior counsel.

As a Panel member from 2008 to 2020, she regularly advised government departments on both litigation and policy. She has recently acted for the Home Office, Departments of Education, Health, Justice and DEFRA and has appeared in the High Court, Court of Appeal as sole counsel and as a junior in two Supreme Court cases.

In the education sphere, she has represented Ofsted and has advised the Office for Students, the Education and Skills Funding Agency and the NAHT with regard to employment issues. During the pandemic, she has been instructed in relation to regulatory complaints and challenges for summer 2020 A Level grades. 

She has advised and represented a wide range of regulatory bodies from policing to energy and transport.

She also acts for Claimants and was instructed as junior counsel in a successful challenge to an Ofgem decision in 2018-19; R (Gwynt-y-Mor Offshore Wind Farm Ltd) v Gas and Electricity Markets Authority [2019] EWHC 654 (Admin).

She spent much of 2017-9 acting for the Foreign Office in the most recent challenge to UK policy in the Chagos Islands which required her to obtain security clearance and involved an extremely complicated disclosure exercise involving  public interest immunity applications and cross-Whitehall liaison. 



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Education

Sarah spent 2021-22 qualifying as a primary school teacher and obtaining a PGCE. She particularly enjoys working with children with special education needs and is passionate about developing history subject knowledge at primary level. She volunteers regularly with the Guy Fox History Project: https://www.guyfox.org.uk/ delivering history and art based workshops in London primary schools.

Sarah has represented Ofsted and has advised the Office for Students, the Education and Skills Funding Agency and the NAHT with regard to employment issues. Recently, she has been instructed in relation to regulatory complaints and challenges for summer 2020 A Level grades. She is developing her practice in the First Tier Tribunal (Special Educational Needs and Disability), using her classroom experience to work as co-operatively as possible to optimise outcomes for children in need.

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Employment

Sarah has been described over the years by the Legal 500 as "exceptionally intelligent, strategically wise and a strong advocate" (2023), an exceptionally bright barrister" (2019) "an impressive and approachable advocate, who provides clear, commercial advice" (2018), "impressive and approachable" (2017) Chambers and Partners described her as "extremely bright" and “a popular choice for discrimination cases” (2012), as " also “a barrister with real potential” (2010) and  as “extremely bright and able to assimilate document-heavy cases with apparent ease” (2009).

Sarah has enjoyed a wide-ranging employment law practice including all forms of employee competition law, discrimination, unfair dismissal, protection from harassment, unlawful deductions from wages, equal pay, fixed term workers regulations, part time workers regulations and whistleblowing. She acts for both claimants and respondents and has a particular interest in cases involving discrimination, financial services and education. She has experience of both obtaining and resisting injunctive relief in restrictive covenant cases in both the QB and Chancery Divisions. 

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Professional Discipline

Sarah has expanded her professional discipline practice in 2023, working across several fields, including sport, finance and parliamentary standards

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Sport

Sarah's professional discipline practice took her into sport in 2023, as junior counsel to Jane Mulcahy KC in the English Cricket Board's cases against Yorkshire County Cricket Club for the use of racist language.

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Investigations & Inquiries

Sarah was sole counsel undertaking an independent review of the Independent Safeguarding Board of the Church of England in the autumn of 2023. The date for publication of her Report will be confirmed shortly.

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Achievements

Education

MA Oxon (Modern History) First Class; DPhil Oxon (Modern History); BA (Hons) Oxon (Jurisprudence) First Class; PGCE

Prizes & Scholarships

  • Fellowship by Examination, All Souls College, Oxford, 1996-2003
  • £50 Fellow, All Souls College, Oxford, 2004-2011
  • Wronker Prize for Administrative Law (Oxon)
  • Bedingfield and Arden Scholarships, Gray’s Inn


Publications

  • ‘Queues and Consultation: fairness and market power at the London Metal Exchange’ Butterworth’s Journal of International Banking and Finance Law 2015 30(1) 25-27.
  • With Robert Howe QC, Diya Sen Gupta and Simon Pritchard, chapter 3 'Confidentiality' in Employee Competition (2nd edition 2011 and 3rd ed., forthcoming OUP 2015). 
  • With other authors in chambers and from Baker & Mackenzie LLP, Tolley's Discrimination in Employment Law Handbook (2008 and 2nd ed., 2011). 
  • With Tom Beazley QC and Javan Herberg, ‘Financial Services Investigations’ in Montgomery & Omerod (eds.) Fraud: Criminal Law and Procedure (OUP, 2008).
  • With Gemma White and Robert Weekes, Pre-Action Procedure and (alone) Procedural Table for Judicial Review Claims in Lang (ed.), Administrative Court: Practice and Procedure (Sweet and Maxwell, 2006).
  • Sarah edited the UK case section of Sweet & Maxwell’s ‘Human Rights Alerter’ from 2005-2008.
  • Focus on Article 1 ECHR in Judicial Review (December 2004)
  • The concept of the state in Britain, 1880-1939 in Modernism: a concise companion (ed.) David Bradshaw (Blackwell, 2003) 

Membership 

  • ELA
  • ELBA
  • ALBA
  • Historical Association

Selected Earlier Reported Cases

Employment

  • Obtained injunctive relief for Respondents in technology-based employee competition case involving database rights (Summer 2013).
  • High value claim for constructive dismissal (Spring 2013).
  • Representing Claimant in a case for contractual sick pay (Spring 2013).
  • High value disability discrimination case involving duty to make reasonable adjustments which settled after judicial mediation (Summer/Autumn 2012).
  • High value sex and pregnancy discrimination case in a City context (Summer/Autumn 2012).
  • Pregnancy discrimination and constructive unfair dismissal case involving transitional provisions under the Equality Act 2010 (Spring 2011).
  • Pervez v Macquarie Group Limited UKEAT/2205232/2009, [2011] I.C.R. 266; [2011] I.R.L.R. 284.
  • Age discrimination and constructive unfair dismissal case for a firm of solicitors (2010-2011).
  • Sex discrimination and discrimination for a pregnancy-related reason for a TV production company. Case settled (2010).
  • Mulugueta v Xerox Ltd (2009).
  • Parmar v Eli Lilly & Co Ltd (2009).
  • Maynard v Canalside Housing Association (2009).
  • High value whistleblowing and collective redundancy claim against a leading American investment bank. Case settled, (2008).
  • Libby Assassi v University of Sussex (2008)
  • Force One Utilities Ltd v Mr. K. Hatfield  UKEAT/0048/08 (2008)
  • Miss T Agu v ROC UK Limited UKEAT/0325/07/LA (2008)
  • Reichell v Frost v Sullivan Ltd (2008).
  • High value City whistleblowing case for Claimant. Settled. (2007) (with Tom Croxford).
  • High value sex discrimination case on behalf of a venture capital house (2007) (with Tom Croxford). 
  • In November 2007, she provided advocacy training for the Employment Lawyers 
  • Colin Wellicome v Service Underwriting Management Limited (2007)
  • McNally v Commissioner for Metropolitan Police (2007)
  • Nzeribe v World Duty Free (2007)
  • Langley and Carter v Burlo [2007] ICR 390

Public & Regulatory

  • Advised on human rights aspects of bringing a stay in criminal proceedings in the Cayman Islands. (2010)
  • R (on the application of easyJet Airline Co. Ltd) v Civil Aviation Authority [2009] EWHC 1422 (Admin)
  • R (on the application of Primary Health Investment Properties Ltd) v Secretary of State for Health) [2009] EWHC 519 (Admin)
  • Ogunbemile v Secretary of State for the Home Department (2008)
  • R (Brown) v (1) Department for Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (2) Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform and (3) The Royal Mail Group Ltd (2008)
  • On constitutional issues, Sarah was instructed with Jeffrey Jowell QC in a series of judicial review actions in Malawi, considering the alleged constructive resignation of the Vice President.
  • Hoyte v Information Commissioner EA/2007/0101
  • R (Islamic Human Rights Commission) v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and others [2006] EWHC 2465 Admin.

Commercial

  • Wigan Athletic Football Club v Greater Manchester Police [2007] EWHC 3095 (Ch)
  • Junior counsel to Adam Lewis QC of Blackstone Chambers in Wigan Athletic’s challenge to statutory charges levied by Greater Manchester Police in a case which spanned both private and public law issues in a two-week trial in the Chancery Division followed by a successful appeal to the Court of Appeal [2008] EWCA Civ 1449 [2009] 1 WLR 1580. 
  • Two high value civil fraud cases as junior obtaining freezing injunctions and search orders in relation to breach of fiduciary duty, deceit, breach of contract and conversion (with Tony Peto QC). 
  • McShane v Polynesian Adventure Tours Ltd (2009)
  • Daffyd Ellis v Alfred McAlpine (2009)
  • Universal Leasing v The Wedding Planner (2008)
  • Lombard North Central Plc v Mercer (2006)
  • Lombard North Central Plc v Lewis (2006)

Other Relevant Information

Sarah was a Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford from 1996-2003 and from 2004-June 2011. Before coming to the Bar, she completed a doctorate entitled ‘Perceptions of Public Opinion. British Foreign Policy Decisions about Nazi Germany’ in 2000 and taught British and European twentieth century history at the universities of Oxford and Reading. In 2021-22, she taught years 6, 4 and 1 in primary schools in Oxford as part of a school-centred initial teacher training course, obtaining Qualified Teacher Status in December 2022 and a PGCE simultaneously before returning to the Bar in January 2023.

She is a member of the ELAAS scheme and undertakes pro bono work through Advocate.

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