Sarah Abram

Sarah Abram is a junior barrister with a broad range of experience in EU/ competition, commercial and public law matters. She has appeared in a wide variety of courts, including the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeal, the Competition Appeal Tribunal and various other specialist tribunals, the Crown Court and the Magistrates' Court. Sarah regularly appears, both led and unled, in the High Court and in County Courts.

Sarah has a broad-based commercial law practice spanning all areas of Chambers' commercial expertise and encompassing both litigation and arbitration. She is regularly instructed in "credit crunch" cases involving the banking and financial services sectors, as well as general commercial litigation; she has a particular interest in cases combining commercial and EU/ competition law elements.

Current high profile cases of note include the JPMorgan v BVG litigation, involving a CDO transaction worth in excess of $200million, which has so far reached both the Supreme Court and the Court of Justice of the European Union on issues of jurisdiction. Sarah is currently instructed as junior counsel for the claimants in A Nelson & Co Ltd v Guna SpA, Commercial Court proceedings combining issues of commercial and competition law, in which the claimants have successfully obtained judgment on issues of liability ([2011] EWHC 1202 (Comm)). Sarah has also recently been involved in obtaining summary judgment in AAH Pharmaceuticals Ltd v Birdi & ors ([2011] EWHC 1625 (QB)), an international fraud case involving breach of fiduciary duty and other equitable and common law claims; she has appeared unled in a substantial number of hearings in the course of that litigation.

Sarah also appears in a wide range of competition law disputes and has substantial trial experience. For instance, she acted for the successful appellant in Tomlinson v OFT ([2011] CAT 7), one of the challenges to the penalties imposed by the OFT's September 2009 Decision regarding cover-pricing in the construction industry. She was instructed as Junior Counsel in the High Court trial of the leading competition law case BAGS and ors v AMRAC and ors (2008] EWHC 1978 (Ch); [2008] EWHC 2688 (Ch)), concerning the validity of media rights agreements in the horseracing sector. She also appeared as Junior Counsel in the National Grid v Ofgem case ([2009] CAT 14), representing an Intervener supporting Ofgem's successful case that National Grid had abused its position of dominance in the gas metering market.

Sarah also practises in the field of public and administrative law, particularly where issues of EU law are involved. For instance, she is frequently instructed in matters relating to public procurement. In the field of judicial review, she appeared for instance for the successful claimant in Speciality Produce Ltd v Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs [2009] EWHC 1245 (Admin), a case involving allegations of abuse of Community law as well as issues of domestic law.

Sarah was appointed to the Attorney General's C Panel in 2011.