Sarah practised as a solicitor in the City for over thirty years, originally a corporate lawyer, specialising in mergers and acquisitions, she reinvented herself as a “lawyers’ lawyer” when the solicitors’ profession became independently regulated in the early 2000s and went on to become Slaughter and May’s first General Counsel.

In 2020 Sarah established a non-executive portfolio, taking on a number of separate roles connected with standards, values and/or ethics.

She is currently:

Visiting Professor at UCL Faculty of Laws, focussing on professional ethics;

Trustee/Non-Executive Director of The King’s Foundation, the re-generation, skills and educational charity which puts HM King Charles III’s vision of “harmony” into practice;

Independent member of ACOBA, the Cabinet Office committee which advises the Prime Minister on the application of the Business Appointment Rules; and

Independent lay member of The Editors’ Code of Practice Committee, which writes and reviews the standards IPSO-regulated newspapers and magazines undertake to follow.

What Sarah values most about the livery company is that in addition to keeping individual solicitors connected with each other, the Civic City and charitable-giving, it also engages its members in exploring what integrity and professionalism mean for solicitors. This in turn has a close connection with the rule of law – something which Sarah shouted about it during her time as Master, as the theme for her year was “Amplify!”