About
Sarah specialises in international disputes related to private wealth, often involving complex trust structures with a corporate asset base. She has represented individuals, trustees, and charities in claims of breach of trust, constructive trust, under the laws governing property rights on the end of a relationship or death, in contract, and in company law. Sarah works with colleagues across the firm’s locations on cross-border cases.
Prior to joining the firm in 2022 Sarah practised as a barrister and solicitor at a leading New Zealand private client and trust litigation firm and, before that, in the Dispute Resolution team at a top-tier Asia-Pacific law firm.
Sarah co-authors the trust litigation chapter in the STEP-approved loose-leaf Planning and Administration of Offshore and Onshore Trusts. She is also a contributor to the upcoming Oxford Book of Comparative Trusts which will be published shortly.
Sarah is admitted to practise in New Zealand and in Australia.
Experience
- Acting for a disinherited spouse of a well-known English businessman in a claim under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975. The case involved important legal issues regarding the interplay between pre-nuptial agreements and provision claims.
- Acting for a settlor in a successful application to set aside a Caribbean family trust connected with complex cross-jurisdictional tax planning arrangements, on the grounds of mistake.
- As part of a team, advising a representative for beneficiaries in Public Trustee v Cooper proceedings in the High Court of England and Wales, regarding the distribution of a large employee share trust.
- Advising a settlor on the settlement of claims by his separated spouse concerning ultra-high-value trusts with interests in corporate assets.
- As co-counsel, successfully defending a protest to the jurisdiction of the Family Court of New Zealand, to determine the validity of a notice of claim over luxury New Zealand real estate. The protest was led by a US-based party.
- Acting variously for claimants and trustees in separate multimillion-dollar constructive trust proceedings in the High Court of New Zealand, based on disputed contributions to assets held in express discretionary trusts.
