"Sarah is my go-to barrister. She is knowledgeable, her client service is excellent, and she is extremely pragmatic, realistic and timely."
Sarah specialises in public law and human rights. She is expert in education, health and social care, local government and election law. She has acted in many of the significant public law cases in recent years, both as leading and junior counsel.
Both directories rank Sarah as a leading silk in five practice areas. In 2019 Sarah was shortlisted for Public Law Junior of the Year in the Legal 500 UK Bar Awards. In 2020 Sarah was shortlisted for the Human Rights and Public Law junior of the year in the Chambers Bar UK Awards. She is a member of the A-Panel of the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s Panel of Preferred Counsel. Before taking silk, Sarah was a member of the Attorney-General’s A panel of Counsel.
Sarah appears regularly on behalf of claimants (including individuals and commercial organisations), local authorities, the Secretary of State, and regulators. Sarah has been instructed by NGOs such as Liberty, Public Law Project, Stonewall, Women’s Aid and Human Rights Watch. She has particular expertise in claims under the Human Rights Act 1998 and under the Equality Act 2010. Sarah often acts for or against regulatory bodies. She advises commercial clients on their regulatory, public law and equality duties. Sarah has been instructed as Counsel to the Investigatory Powers Tribunal in several cases, has acted as Advocate to the Court, and has acted for the Speaker of the House of Commons.
Sarah has been instructed in several cases before the European Court of Human Rights. She has also acted in cases concerning the Cayman Islands, Trinidad, and the Turks and Caicos Islands.
Examples of recent work include:
Sarah has significant experience in investigations and public inquiries. She has conducted or advised on a number of independent inquiries or investigations in the public and private sector, particularly for higher education institutions.
Recent work includes:
Sarah has particular expertise in all aspects of education law. She acts on behalf of a wide range of clients (including local authorities, parents, schools, higher education institutions, the Schools Adjudicator, Ofsted, the Education Funding Agency, and the Secretary of State for Education). Sarah acted as junior counsel to Just for Kids in R (Tigere) v. Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills [2015] 1 WLR 82 (SC). Sarah has particular expertise in safeguarding: she is instructed by Ofsted in the Independent Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse, has advised the Disclosure and Barring Service and was legal adviser to the Winterbourne View Hospital Serious Case Review. Sarah has extensive experience of advising and acting in cases involving higher education institutions. She advised the EHRC on its inquiry into racial harassment in higher education institutions. Sarah acted on behalf of the successful claimants in the St Olave “off-rolling” case.
Sarah was awarded the Bar Pro Bono award in 2013 for her work on the School Exclusion Project, an organisation that provides pro-bono representation to parents appealing against the permanent exclusion of their child from school. She is the author (with Aileen McColgan and Elizabeth Prochaska) of Special Educational Needs and the Law (LAG, 2017) and co-authored the chapter on education in National Security: Law, Practice and Procedure (Jones, Ward and Stone, 2021). Sarah was a member of the Justice working party on school exclusions and is a parent governor of a primary school in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets.
Recent education cases include:
Sarah has a wide-ranging health and social care practice. She acts for claimants, doctors, local authorities, NHS bodies and the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care. She is ranked as a leading junior in community care and local government law and acted on behalf of South Gloucestershire Council in R (Cornwall Council) v. Secretary of State for Health [2016] AC 137 (SC) (test for determining the ordinary residence of a person who lacks capacity).
Recent cases include:
Sarah has significant election law experience. She has advised and acted for a number of political parties, and in particular, advised on the responsibilities of political parties under the Equality Act 2010. Recent cases include:
In 2008 Sarah was a Fellow at the Center for Constitutional Rights in New York, funded by a Pegasus Scholarship awarded by Inner Temple where she undertook work relating to Guantanamo detainees. Prior to coming to the Bar, Sarah was a lecturer in law at King’s College London from 2000 until 2005. She has taught at University College London, Queen Mary University of London and the University of New South Wales in Australia. She has been a visiting professor at McGill University.
Sarah graduated from the University of Nottingham in 1998 with a LLB (Hons) (First Class). She has a LLM in Human Rights and Comparative Law from McGill University for which she was awarded a Commonwealth Scholarship.
Sarah is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. In order to provide legal services to her clients, including advice and representation services, Sarah needs to collect and hold personal data. This includes her client’s personal data and the personal data of others who feature in the matter upon which she is instructed. To read Sarah’s privacy notice in full, please see here.
"Sarah’s grounds are always clear and concise, her advice sensitive and perceptive and most importantly, realistic. She is also incredibly knowledgeable."
"Sarah is knowledgeable, and is extremely pragmatic, realistic and timely."
"Sarah is my go-to barrister. She is knowledgeable, her client service is excellent, and she is extremely pragmatic, realistic and timely."
"Sarah is knowledgeable. Her client service is excellent. She is extremely pragmatic, realistic and timely." "Sarah is very experienced." "She is a great advocate."
"Sarah goes the extra mile to assist. She is conscientious and willing to pursue cutting-edge cases. She is not afraid to practice outside her comfort zone. She is a public law expert due to the length of her practice and the range of cases she has taken. Her drafting is excellent, as are her advocacy and her interpersonal skills."
"She has a depth of knowledge across the education field and she is well established as a leading education barrister." "Sarah has a strong presence and she stands out."
"Very knowledgeable and able to deal with work very well."
"She's very efficient, exacting and meticulous in what she does. A very safe pair of hands." "She is great at advocacy and has strong strategic sense." "She is always impressive, whether acting for or against you. She is calm and thoughtful."
"She adds a huge amount of value to incredibly complex cases." "She is always impressive, whether acting for or against you."
"Sarah has a good tactical sense." "She presents cases phenomenally well."
"Sarah is outstanding. She handles challenging and complicated cases well." "Sarah is a real specialist." "Sarah has a tactical sense allowing her to see matters from all sides."
"A particularly thorough and conscientious silk, Sarah produces high quality work within very tight timescales."
"Sarah is the first choice of a barrister to go. She is very knowledgeable and provides very balanced opinions and never misses a deadline. She is brilliantly articulate and concise."
"Sarah is very thorough and conscientious. She produces high quality work and does so within agreed timescales."
"A thoughtful, subtle advocate and a real player in this field." "Sarah is really hard-working and robust in her approach to challenging injustice."
"Intellectually brilliant, very client-focused, pragmatic and very accessible." "She is very knowledgeable about higher education matters, provides quality, practical advice and always delights clients."
"Sarah Hannett is a really fantastic barrister. She is really hard-working and robust in her approach to challenging injustice."
"She's calm, measured and really knows public law inside out." "She has the gravitas of an experienced silk despite only being appointed recently."
"Sarah is calm, concise and provides a reasoned and balanced view of cases based on years of experience. She always puts the client's needs first."
"She has the ability to sink into the detail as well as high-level litigation strategy for complex cases."
"Possibly the best public law senior junior at the Bar currently. She can do government- and claimant-side work to the same very high standard and is a delight to work with – clients think that she’s brilliant."
"Brilliant on education, discrimination and special educational needs."
"She is very bright and switched on."
"Her legal analysis is rigorous, practical and helpful."
"She’s thorough in her preparation and very good in court."
"An impressive barrister who is excellent on paper."
"An outstanding education law barrister."
"She is a thoroughly knowledgeable barrister who clients naturally warm to. She always goes the extra mile and her written advice is clear, immediately understandable and always on time."
"She is really outstanding, and her ability to both bring and defend claims with equal effectiveness is rare."
"She’s very experienced and has the trust of the court."
"An impressive advocate."
"An experienced barrister who makes excellent written submissions."
"An exceptionally bright administrative lawyer. The submissions she drafts grapple with complex points of law in a way that enables the court to understand the importance of that detail. She is also extremely approachable and a very pleasant opponent."
"A real heavyweight lawyer in the field of education law. Great to work with and she adds a lot of value to court and tribunal preparation."
"A great junior counsel."
"Can utilise the more esoteric pieces of legislation when trying to develop arguments for novel situations."
"An extremely impressive junior and a rising star."
"Conscientious, thorough and very good at putting clients at ease."
"Bright, personable, hard-working and clever."
"An excellent barrister; very thorough."
"She is really excellent and knows the law thoroughly. Her written submissions are very clear and concise, and she has a good manner in court."
"She is very bright."
"She is sharp, innovative and has a good breadth of knowledge."
"She’s very straightforward, extremely hard-working and very good at communicating. She has an excellent manner with clients."
"She’s very client-friendly and gives really practical advice."
"She’s responsive and incisive. She really has a grasp of the issues affecting the sector and provides clear and concise opinions, pleadings and advocacy."
"She is really outstanding, and her ability to both bring and defend claims with equal effectiveness is rare."
"She’s very experienced and has the trust of the court."
"An impressive advocate."
"An experienced public lawyer with involvement in many election cases, who is bright and good with clients."
"A very able advocate with excellent judgment."
"The best education law junior around."
"Sarah is my go-to barrister. She is knowledgeable, her client service is excellent, and she is extremely pragmatic, realistic and timely."
Chambers & Partners 2024
Contact Sarah: sarahhannett@matrixlaw.co.uk | +44 (0)20 7404 3447
Contact Sarah's Practice Team (Team X): TeamX@matrixlaw.co.uk
Sarah specialises in public law and human rights. She is expert in education, health and social care, local government and election law. She has acted in many of the significant public law cases in recent years, both as leading and junior counsel.
Both directories rank Sarah as a leading silk in five practice areas. In 2019 Sarah was shortlisted for Public Law Junior of the Year in the Legal 500 UK Bar Awards. In 2020 Sarah was shortlisted for the Human Rights and Public Law junior of the year in the Chambers Bar UK Awards. She is a member of the A-Panel of the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s Panel of Preferred Counsel. Before taking silk, Sarah was a member of the Attorney-General’s A panel of Counsel.
Sarah appears regularly on behalf of claimants (including individuals and commercial organisations), local authorities, the Secretary of State, and regulators. Sarah has been instructed by NGOs such as Liberty, Public Law Project, Stonewall, Women’s Aid and Human Rights Watch. She has particular expertise in claims under the Human Rights Act 1998 and under the Equality Act 2010. Sarah often acts for or against regulatory bodies. She advises commercial clients on their regulatory, public law and equality duties. Sarah has been instructed as Counsel to the Investigatory Powers Tribunal in several cases, has acted as Advocate to the Court, and has acted for the Speaker of the House of Commons.
Sarah has been instructed in several cases before the European Court of Human Rights. She has also acted in cases concerning the Cayman Islands, Trinidad, and the Turks and Caicos Islands.
Examples of recent work include:
Sarah has significant experience in investigations and public inquiries. She has conducted or advised on a number of independent inquiries or investigations in the public and private sector, particularly for higher education institutions.
Recent work includes:
Sarah has particular expertise in all aspects of education law. She acts on behalf of a wide range of clients (including local authorities, parents, schools, higher education institutions, the Schools Adjudicator, Ofsted, the Education Funding Agency, and the Secretary of State for Education). Sarah acted as junior counsel to Just for Kids in R (Tigere) v. Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills [2015] 1 WLR 82 (SC). Sarah has particular expertise in safeguarding: she is instructed by Ofsted in the Independent Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse, has advised the Disclosure and Barring Service and was legal adviser to the Winterbourne View Hospital Serious Case Review. Sarah has extensive experience of advising and acting in cases involving higher education institutions. She advised the EHRC on its inquiry into racial harassment in higher education institutions. Sarah acted on behalf of the successful claimants in the St Olave “off-rolling” case.
Sarah was awarded the Bar Pro Bono award in 2013 for her work on the School Exclusion Project, an organisation that provides pro-bono representation to parents appealing against the permanent exclusion of their child from school. She is the author (with Aileen McColgan and Elizabeth Prochaska) of Special Educational Needs and the Law (LAG, 2017) and co-authored the chapter on education in National Security: Law, Practice and Procedure (Jones, Ward and Stone, 2021). Sarah was a member of the Justice working party on school exclusions and is a parent governor of a primary school in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets.
Recent education cases include:
Sarah has a wide-ranging health and social care practice. She acts for claimants, doctors, local authorities, NHS bodies and the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care. She is ranked as a leading junior in community care and local government law and acted on behalf of South Gloucestershire Council in R (Cornwall Council) v. Secretary of State for Health [2016] AC 137 (SC) (test for determining the ordinary residence of a person who lacks capacity).
Recent cases include:
Sarah has significant election law experience. She has advised and acted for a number of political parties, and in particular, advised on the responsibilities of political parties under the Equality Act 2010. Recent cases include:
In 2008 Sarah was a Fellow at the Center for Constitutional Rights in New York, funded by a Pegasus Scholarship awarded by Inner Temple where she undertook work relating to Guantanamo detainees. Prior to coming to the Bar, Sarah was a lecturer in law at King’s College London from 2000 until 2005. She has taught at University College London, Queen Mary University of London and the University of New South Wales in Australia. She has been a visiting professor at McGill University.
Sarah graduated from the University of Nottingham in 1998 with a LLB (Hons) (First Class). She has a LLM in Human Rights and Comparative Law from McGill University for which she was awarded a Commonwealth Scholarship.
Sarah is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. In order to provide legal services to her clients, including advice and representation services, Sarah needs to collect and hold personal data. This includes her client’s personal data and the personal data of others who feature in the matter upon which she is instructed. To read Sarah’s privacy notice in full, please see here.
"Sarah’s grounds are always clear and concise, her advice sensitive and perceptive and most importantly, realistic. She is also incredibly knowledgeable."
"Sarah is knowledgeable, and is extremely pragmatic, realistic and timely."
"Sarah is my go-to barrister. She is knowledgeable, her client service is excellent, and she is extremely pragmatic, realistic and timely."
"Sarah is knowledgeable. Her client service is excellent. She is extremely pragmatic, realistic and timely." "Sarah is very experienced." "She is a great advocate."
"Sarah goes the extra mile to assist. She is conscientious and willing to pursue cutting-edge cases. She is not afraid to practice outside her comfort zone. She is a public law expert due to the length of her practice and the range of cases she has taken. Her drafting is excellent, as are her advocacy and her interpersonal skills."
"She has a depth of knowledge across the education field and she is well established as a leading education barrister." "Sarah has a strong presence and she stands out."
"Very knowledgeable and able to deal with work very well."
"She's very efficient, exacting and meticulous in what she does. A very safe pair of hands." "She is great at advocacy and has strong strategic sense." "She is always impressive, whether acting for or against you. She is calm and thoughtful."
"She adds a huge amount of value to incredibly complex cases." "She is always impressive, whether acting for or against you."
"Sarah has a good tactical sense." "She presents cases phenomenally well."
"Sarah is outstanding. She handles challenging and complicated cases well." "Sarah is a real specialist." "Sarah has a tactical sense allowing her to see matters from all sides."
"A particularly thorough and conscientious silk, Sarah produces high quality work within very tight timescales."
"Sarah is the first choice of a barrister to go. She is very knowledgeable and provides very balanced opinions and never misses a deadline. She is brilliantly articulate and concise."
"Sarah is very thorough and conscientious. She produces high quality work and does so within agreed timescales."
"A thoughtful, subtle advocate and a real player in this field." "Sarah is really hard-working and robust in her approach to challenging injustice."
"Intellectually brilliant, very client-focused, pragmatic and very accessible." "She is very knowledgeable about higher education matters, provides quality, practical advice and always delights clients."
"Sarah Hannett is a really fantastic barrister. She is really hard-working and robust in her approach to challenging injustice."
"She's calm, measured and really knows public law inside out." "She has the gravitas of an experienced silk despite only being appointed recently."
"Sarah is calm, concise and provides a reasoned and balanced view of cases based on years of experience. She always puts the client's needs first."
"She has the ability to sink into the detail as well as high-level litigation strategy for complex cases."
"Possibly the best public law senior junior at the Bar currently. She can do government- and claimant-side work to the same very high standard and is a delight to work with – clients think that she’s brilliant."
"Brilliant on education, discrimination and special educational needs."
"She is very bright and switched on."
"Her legal analysis is rigorous, practical and helpful."
"She’s thorough in her preparation and very good in court."
"An impressive barrister who is excellent on paper."
"An outstanding education law barrister."
"She is a thoroughly knowledgeable barrister who clients naturally warm to. She always goes the extra mile and her written advice is clear, immediately understandable and always on time."
"She is really outstanding, and her ability to both bring and defend claims with equal effectiveness is rare."
"She’s very experienced and has the trust of the court."
"An impressive advocate."
"An experienced barrister who makes excellent written submissions."
"An exceptionally bright administrative lawyer. The submissions she drafts grapple with complex points of law in a way that enables the court to understand the importance of that detail. She is also extremely approachable and a very pleasant opponent."
"A real heavyweight lawyer in the field of education law. Great to work with and she adds a lot of value to court and tribunal preparation."
"A great junior counsel."
"Can utilise the more esoteric pieces of legislation when trying to develop arguments for novel situations."
"An extremely impressive junior and a rising star."
"Conscientious, thorough and very good at putting clients at ease."
"Bright, personable, hard-working and clever."
"An excellent barrister; very thorough."
"She is really excellent and knows the law thoroughly. Her written submissions are very clear and concise, and she has a good manner in court."
"She is very bright."
"She is sharp, innovative and has a good breadth of knowledge."
"She’s very straightforward, extremely hard-working and very good at communicating. She has an excellent manner with clients."
"She’s very client-friendly and gives really practical advice."
"She’s responsive and incisive. She really has a grasp of the issues affecting the sector and provides clear and concise opinions, pleadings and advocacy."
"She is really outstanding, and her ability to both bring and defend claims with equal effectiveness is rare."
"She’s very experienced and has the trust of the court."
"An impressive advocate."
"An experienced public lawyer with involvement in many election cases, who is bright and good with clients."
"A very able advocate with excellent judgment."
"The best education law junior around."