Practice Profile

• Public Law
• Planning
• Environmental Law
• Local Government Law - Community Care, Housing, Health and Safety
• Immigration and Asylum
• Compulsory Purchase
• Education Law

Sarah is developing a broad public law practice and is regularly instructed to appear in a range of courts and tribunals. She has appeared in the UK Supreme Court, the Court of Appeal, the High Court and at a number of public inquiries. Sarah practices across the range of Chambers' specialisms with a particular focus on public law, planning and environmental law, education and local government law.

Between 2010-2011, Sarah undertook an LLM at Harvard Law School, She was awarded the Frank Knox Memorial Fellowship by Harvard University. She focused on local government, environmental and welfare law and received two Dean's Scholars Prizes for her academic work. Sarah returned to full time practice at FTB in July 2011.

Notable recent cases:

• R(oao Morge) v Hampshire Country Council [2011] UKSC 2 - leading case on the scope of protection of the European Habitats Directive to protected species (appeared as junior to Charles George QC)
• R (oao Rafaela Savva) v Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea [2010] EWHC 414 (Admin)- leading case on the use of resource allocation systems by local authorities in making direct payments to care users (appeared without a leader in the High Court)
• R (oao Shelley Maxwell) v Office of the Independent Adjudicator [2010] EWHC 1889 (Admin) - a judicial review concerning the approach of the OIA to claims of disability discrimination (appeared as junior to Gregory Jones QC)
• Acted for Thamesbank and Environmental Law Foundation at the Examination in Public of the Mayor of London's London Plan (2010).

Public Law

Sarah is interested in public law, particularly in local government and welfare law, encompassing community care, housing and social security. She has appeared alone and as a junior in judicial review proceedings in both the High Court and Court of Appeal as well as in the Social Security and the Asylum and Immigration tribunals.

Sarah has a growing practice in community care law. She appeared in R (oao Rafaela Savva) v Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea [2010] EWHC 414 (Admin) the leading case on the calculation of personal budgets in social care. She has also advised on human rights claims in the context of community care and how they relate to immigration law.

Sarah has worked on cases involving changes to electoral boundaries, environmental impact assessment, the application of Article 8 ECHR in compulsory purchase cases. Sarah has experience of housing law matters and has advised on homelessness matters for a number of local authorities.

Sarah has taught Public Law and Human Rights at Queen Mary, University of London and has published articles in the field. She was previously a Teaching Fellow in Constitutional and Administrative Law at City University (2007-8).

Planning and Environmental Law

Sarah's practice in planning and environmental law encompasses planning and enforcement inquiries as well as High Court work. Sarah works on cases with a European law dimension and has advised on the application of the EIA, SEA and Habitats Directives and in relation to waste and contaminated land. Sarah lectures and writes regularly on environmental law issues.

Sarah appeared as junior to Charles George QC in Vivienne Morge v Hampshire County Council [2011] UKSC 2 the leading decision of the Supreme Court on the interpretation of the European Habitats Directive.

Sarah works with a number of environmental organisations and community action groups. She is a referral member for the Environmental Law Foundation. She has acted for the Thamesbank group on the Public Examination of the Mayor of London's Plan and was instructed on behalf of the Chelsea Barracks Action Group in opposing Richard Rogers' residential scheme.

She is also familiar with the law on Town and Village Greens. She was instructed by the Kent University Law Clinic to act for local residents in a week long inquiry to register commons land in Canterbury.

Education Law

In the education law field, Sarah works on cases dealing with Special Educational Needs and Higher Education. She has previously provided advice to local authority exclusion appeal panels. She appeared as junior to Gregory Jones QC in R (oao Shelley Maxwell)  v Office of the Independent Adjudicator (ongoing) -  a judicial review concerning the approach of the OIA to claims of disability discrimination.

Other experience

Sarah volunteers at Toynbee Hall (Free Legal Advice Centre) where she advises on housing, social security, debt and immigration law.

Sarah completed a secondment to a London local authority where she undertook a range of advisory and advocacy work in local government law.

Before commencing pupillage Sarah was an Inner Temple Scholar at the Supreme Court of Israel, Jerusalem. She worked as Foreign Law Clerk for Justice Hanan Melcer, advising on Human Rights and Administrative Law. 

Education and Fellowships

• Harvard Law School, LLM (with Honours)
• City University, Graduate Diploma in Law (Distinction)
• Queens' College, Cambridge, BA History (First Class) (2006)
• Frank Know Memorial Fellowship (2010-11)
• Inner Temple Major Scholarship (2006, 2007) and City University Prize (2006)
• Professional Organisations: Administrative Law Bar Association (ALBA), Human Rights Law Association (HRLA)
• Languages: Spanish (fluent)

Publications

• "Debating Democracy and the Ban on Political Advertising", Modern Law Review, 475-487 (May, 2009)
• "Waste Law" with Gregory Jones, Environmental Law and Property Transactions, Waite eds. Tottels 3rd ed, 2009
• "Planning Law Update", with Gregory Jones, Solicitors Journal, December 2008 and September 2009
• Assisted Lord Steyn in the preparation of the Boydell Lecture on "Defamation and Privacy" (26 May 2010)