Sarah was Supervising Partner, with overall supervision of the team, acting as Solicitors to the Sabina Rizvi Inquest - an Article 2 inquest, which was held at the Old Bailey almost 21 years after the death of Ms Rizvi.
In terms of her public inquiry experience, Sarah has worked on a number of high profile public inquiries while the wider team are currently acting on a wide range of matters including public inquiries and non-statutory investigations.
Sarah is currently Solicitor to the Angiolini Inquiry, looking into matters surrounding Wayne Couzens, David Carrick and systemic issues of misogyny in the police force. She is also leading the teams representing clients who are Core Participants to the Infected Blood Inquiry and the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry.
Sarah has also led a team of lawyers acting as Solicitors to the Independent Jersey Care Inquiry (investigating allegations of abuse of children in care), acting for a core participant in the Leveson Inquiry (investigating the role of the press and the police in the phone hacking scandal) and had a lead role on the Rosemary Nelson Public Inquiry (a prominent human rights solicitor who was killed by an under car explosive – there were allegations of state collusion in her death).
Sarah was also Deputy Solicitor to the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust Public Inquiry. Sarah’s role involved advising the Inquiry’s Secretariat Team and the Chairman on procedural and project management matters, avoiding adjournments and managing the Eversheds Sutherland team. Sarah was instrumental in developing and managing the bespoke IT systems used by the Mid Staffordshire Inquiry to manage the Inquiry’s rolling timetable and ensure that this statutory inquiry was completed in a two year timeframe. Eversheds Sutherland was awarded second place in the Financial Times awards for innovation in recognition of these systems, which ensured that the Inquiry finished in record time.
In relation to her investigation work, Sarah has conducted independent internal investigations on behalf of clients, including assisting and advising an independent investigator appointed by Birmingham City Council on the Trojan Horse Inquiry which investigated allegations of an extremist plot to takeover schools in Birmingham and was conducted over a period of two months, with the findings withstanding Parliamentary scrutiny. Most recently, she led the Commissioning Body team appointed for the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Exploitation in Telford, an independent investigation
commissioned by the Council to investigate long-standing issues and complaints concerning the sexual exploitation of children.
In addition to her Public Inquiry work, Sarah was a founding Partner of Eversheds Sutherland’s litigation technology and legal project management team and she is Prince II qualified and has been instrumental in both the development of the technology offering (both technology solutions and Legal Project Management) and of the team, which consist of legal project managers and technology analysts.
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Sarah’s recent experience includes:
- leading the teams acting on a wide range of large matters to include inquests, statutory and non-statutory
inquiries and internal investigations - developing and managing bespoke IT systems to manage document collation and review. Has good working
relationships with a number of suppliers - advising Secretariat and Chair on procedural and project management matters
- consulting with all stakeholders to ensure all voices are heard whether legally represented or not
- acting for both inquiry/inquest and Core Participants, therefore able to approach things from both angles
- liaising with and interviewing a wide range of witnesses including politicians, lawyers, senior civil servants, police officers, members of the armed forces, members of the security service and vulnerable witnesses
Sarah is ranked as Band 1 by Chambers and Partners 2024 and was previously recognised by The Lawyer as one of the “Hot 100” lawyers for 2017 and 2020.
Sarah is a co-author of the book titled "The Practical Guide to Public Inquiries" published by Hart in December 2020.
Sarah is a co-author of the book titled "The Practical Guide to Public Inquiries" published by Hart in December 2020.