Experience
Sarah is routinely instructed by large loss insurers at an early stage in order to:
- Represent Defendants during criminal proceedings and inquests;
- Conduct extensive liability investigations and provide strategic advice prior to litigation;
- Defend high value litigated claims where indemnity, liability and/or quantum are in dispute.
Sarah's practice comprises substantial and complex claims primarily traumatic brain, spinal, amputation, fatal and chronic pain injuries. She has also developed a sub-specialism in equine/Animals Act claims whilst her cases regularly feature significant care, accommodation and loss of earnings claims. Sarah also has a keen interest in the published medical literature regarding dementia and its suspected causes. Click here for a link to her podcast.
Sarah is the Head of the Medical Relationship Management Team at DWF Connected Services.
Sarah has been awarded two Values awards for her outstanding contribution to DWF.
Sarah is fluent in French and Arabic while she is also able to converse in Kashmiri and Urdu.
Outside of the office, she enjoys being in the sun, gardening, and playing squash at the Liverpool Cricket Club. Sarah also plays netball in a local league.
Recent cases
- Severe brain injury and cycle helmet – Sarah successfully obtained a 15% reduction in the Claimant's damages due to his failure to wear a cycle helmet by relying upon bioengineering and neuro-surgery evidence. At a JSM, Sarah settled the case for £200k plus £150k for costs against a Schedule of circa £2m.
- Novel PPO Applications - On a brain injury case, Sarah successfully opposed the Claimant’s solicitors’ application seeking a ruling from the Court to determine the likelihood of the Claimant’s damages being paid on a periodical basis for the rest of his life rather than as one lump sum. It was a novel issue for Leading Counsel of both parties as well as the Judge who presided over the Hearing.
- Indemnity and complex liability arguments plus a fatality and an amputation – Counsel commented that the facts of the case "might have been set by a committee of law professors with the express design of giving rise to points of interest and difficulty". It was a double injury claim with a reserve of £3m with one of the injured suffering an amputation and the other being a fatality. Sarah repudiated the amputee case while the fatality claim settled for £250,000 against a Schedule of £1m once she had negotiated a deal with the co-Defendant's insurers who then instructed Sarah to act on their behalf as well as her original insurer client.