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Sarah specialises in public and administrative law, asylum and immigration, and international law.

Sarah works across the fields of asylum, immigration, and public law, with a particular specialism in asylum and unlawful detention. She acts in appeals and judicial review proceedings before the First-Tier Tribunal and Upper Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber), the High Court, and the Court of Appeal in asylum and human rights cases.

Sarah is a member of the Equality and Human Rights Commission panel of Counsel.

Prior to joining the Bar of England and Wales, Sarah worked as a Refugee Legal Advisor in Egypt and Greece and practised as a solicitor in Australia.

Sarah moved to the UK in 2017, where she completed an MSc in Refugee and Forced Migration Studies (Distinction) and a Bachelor of Civil Law (Distinction) at the University of Oxford.

What the directories say

'Sarah is extremely hard-working. She is diligent, detail-oriented and her drafting is excellent.' Legal 500 2025

Immigration and Asylum

Sarah’s immigration practice covers all areas of asylum and immigration law, including First-Tier and Upper Tribunals (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) and judicial review proceedings. She is also regularly instructed in claims challenging the unlawful use of detention powers under the Immigration Acts and related damage claims. She has a strong commitment to pro bono and publicly funded work and regularly volunteers for Bail for Immigration Detainees (BID).

Sarah regularly delivers talks and seminars on asylum-related issues in various forums. Recent engagements include the IPLA Annual Conference and the No Walls podcast in an episode entitled The UK’s Response to Ukraine.

Sarah previously worked as a Refugee Legal Advisor in Egypt and Greece, where she advised asylum seekers on refugee status determination (RSD) and family reunification processes; conducted community-based training workshops; and accompanied clients, including a large number of unaccompanied minors, to RSD proceedings.

Public and Administrative Law

Sarah is regularly instructed in judicial review matters in a wide range of areas, with a particular focus on immigration, asylum, and children’s rights. She has acted in a number of public law challenges to government immigration and asylum policies, including:

  • acting for Reunite Families UK in the challenge to the increase to the minimum income requirement for family visas (led by Raza Husain KC);

  • acting for lead claimants in the challenge to the use of RAF Wethersfield to accommodate asylum seekers (led by Angus McCullough KC and Shu Shin Luh);

  • acting for an individual claimant (ASM) in the challenge to the Rwanda removal policy before the Supreme Court (led by Richard Drabble KC) – AAA v SSHD [2023] UKSC 42;

  • acting for various claimants in challenges to their designation as Group 2 refugees (led by Alex Goodman KC);

  • acting for Asylum Aid in the challenge to the Rwanda removal policy (led by Charlotte Kilroy KC) – AAA v SSHD [2023] EWCA Civ 745; and

  • acting for Freedom from Torture in the challenge to the refugee ‘pushback’ policy (led by Raza Husain KC).

Sarah has also advised on judicial review proceedings arising from the conduct of UK armed forces overseas.

 

International Law

Sarah has expertise in public international law with a focus on international human rights law. Her work in these areas includes:

  • member of the international legal team for Jimmy Lai (British citizen, prominent pro-democracy activist and publisher, imprisoned in Hong Kong) and Sebastien Lai (led by Caoilfhionn Gallagher KC);

  • advising a former state hostage on potential means of redress, including via the UN Special Procedures and ICJ;

  • advising an NGO on potential legal challenges—at the regional and international levels—to colonial-era “buggery” laws;

  • assisting Counsel for the Government of Mauritius (Philippe Sands KC and Remi Reichhold) in the Dispute concerning delimitation of the maritime boundary between Mauritius and Maldives (International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, 2020); and

  • co-authoring the Joint Opinion on the compliance of the UK government’s Nationality and Borders Bill with the UK’s international legal obligations (with Raza Husain KC, Jason Pobjoy, and Eleanor Mitchell).

Sarah is a rostered Trial Monitor with TrialWatch, a joint project of the American Bar Association and the Clooney Foundation for Justice, which monitors criminal trials of vulnerable defendants worldwide. 

Sarah is also a production team member of RightsUp!, a podcast from the Oxford Human Rights Hub.

Inquests and Public Inquiries

Sarah has been instructed in the Grenfell Inquiry on behalf of Transport for London and in the Infected Blood Inquiry on behalf of the Department of Health.