Sarah Love's Full CV

Education

  • MA (Oxon) Philosophy, Politics & Economics, Magdalen College, University of Oxford - First Class Honours, finished 1st in year (2002), Distinction in Preliminary Examinations (1999)
  • Michael von Clemm Scholar, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Harvard University (2002-03)
  • Graduate Diploma in Law, City University - Distinction, finished 1st in year (2005)
  • Bar Vocational Course, BPP Law School - Outstanding, finished 3rd in year (2006)
  • Postgraduate Diploma in EC Competition Law, King's College (2006)

Practice Profile

Sarah Love practises in all of Chambers' areas of work and is particularly interested in competition, regulatory and administrative law. Before coming to the Bar, she studied postgraduate economics and government at Harvard and was a research economist at the Institute for Fiscal Studies. Sarah joined Chambers in 2007 after completing pupillage and has since appeared in the House of Lords, the Court of Appeal, the High Court, the Competition Appeal Tribunal, the Information Tribunal, the First-tier Tribunal (Social Entitlement Chamber) and many county courts.

Sarah has acted for and advised a wide range of clients, including government departments, public authorities, trade associations, public and private companies, charities and individuals. She undertakes pro bono work regularly. Sarah's previous and current cases include:

  • Office of Fair Trading v Abbey National plc & others [2009] UKSC 6 - acted for the OFT in the ‘test case' on the fairness of unarranged overdraft charges (with Jonathan Crow QC, Jemima Stratford QC and Richard Coleman)
  • Office of Fair Trading v Foxtons Limited [2009] EWHC 1681 (Ch) - acted for the OFT in its successful case against Foxtons concerning the fairness of clauses in its contracts with landlords (with Nicholas Green QC and Helen Davies QC)
  • Competition Commission v BAA Limited [2010] EWCA Civ 1097 - acted for Ryanair, in support of the Competition Commission's successful appeal against the Competition Appeal Tribunal's judgment quashing the report of the Competition Commission on UK airports (with Daniel Jowell QC)
  • Hereward & Foster v Legal Services Commission [2010] EWHC 3370 (Admin) - acted for the LSC resisting a sex discrimination challenge to the scoring criteria for the award of contracts for publicly funded legal services (with Martin Chamberlain)
  • Cases 1156-9 & 1170/8/3/10Virgin Media, Inc & others v Office of Communications - acting for BT in the ‘Pay TV’ litigation (with Thomas Plewman and Sarah Ford)

Sarah is a member of the Attorney General's C Panel of Junior Counsel to the Crown.

Areas of Practice

  • Competition and regulatory law
  • Public and administrative law (including human rights)
  • European Union law
  • Commercial law

Competition and regulatory law

Sarah has acted and advised in a wide range of cases. She has experience of European Commission and OFT investigations. Matters on which she is working and has worked include:

  • Cases 1156-9 & 1170/8/3/10 Virgin Media, Inc & others v Office of Communications - acting for BT in the ‘Pay TV’ litigation (with Thomas Plewman and Sarah Ford)
  • Competition Commission v BAA Limited [2010] EWCA Civ 1097 - acted for Ryanair, in support of the Competition Commission's successful appeal against the Competition Appeal Tribunal's judgment quashing the report of the Competition Commission on UK airports (with Daniel Jowell QC), having previously acted for Ryanair (with Daniel Jowell QC) in BAA Limited v Competition Commission [2009] CAT 35
  • Office of Fair Trading v Abbey National plc & others [2008] EWHC 875 (Comm), [2008] EWHC 2325 (Comm), [2009] EWHC 36 (Comm), [2009] EWCA Civ 116, [2009] UKSC 6 - acted for the OFT in the ‘test case' on whether unarranged overdraft charges can be assessed for fairness under the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999 (with Jonathan Crow QC, Jemima Stratford QC and Richard Coleman)
  • Office of Fair Trading v Foxtons Limited [2009] EWHC 1681 (Ch) - acted for the OFT in its successful case against Foxtons concerning the fairness of clauses in its contracts with landlords (with Nicholas Green QC and Helen Davies QC)
  • Vodafone Limited v Office of Communications [2008] CAT 22 - acted for Orange in an interim hearing in an appeal against Ofcom's decision on telephone number portability (with Marie Demetriou)
  • Acted for Ryanair in the first UK decision under Regulation 20 of the Airports (Groundhandling) Regulations 1997, in which the CAA upheld Ryanair’s appeal on two grounds (with Daniel Jowell QC)
  • Advised Ryanair on a successful complaint to the Civil Aviation Authority under the Airports Act 1986 (with Daniel Jowell QC)
  • Advised (led and unled) on the application of Articles 101 and 102 TFEU and the Chapter I and Chapter II prohibitions to a range of sectors and industries, including mobile telephones, composing & songwriting, ship classification societies, insurance and airlines

Public and administrative law (including human rights)

Sarah has acted for and advised both applicants and respondents in judicial review and other regulatory proceedings. Matters on which she is working and has worked include:

  • R (Imperial Tobacco Limited & others) v Secretary of State for Health - acting in the judicial review of the ban on the display of tobacco products (with David Anderson QC)
  • Cases 1156-9 & 1170/8/3/10 Virgin Media, Inc & others v Office of Communications - see under ‘Competition and regulatory law’ above
  • Hereward & Foster v Legal Services Commission [2010] EWHC 3370 (Admin) - acted for the LSC resisting a sex discrimination challenge to the scoring criteria for the award of contracts for publicly funded legal services (with Martin Chamberlain)
  • Competition Commission v BAA Limited [2010] EWCA Civ 1097 - see under ‘Competition and regulatory law' above
  • First Essex Buses Limited v (1) Secretary of State for Transport and (2) Essex County Council [2009] EWHC 3024 (Admin) - acted for the Claimant in a challenge to the Secretary of State for Transport's conduct of statutory appeals procedures (with Jonathan Crow QC)
  • Wendy Stephen v (1) Information Commissioner and (2) Legal Services Commission EA/2008/0057 - acted (unled) for the LSC in its first, successful, appearance before the Information Tribunal, in which its decision to refuse disclosure of information on the basis of the exemption in s. 44 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 was upheld
  • R (o.a.o. London Borough of Wandsworth & others) v Secretary of State for Transport [2008] EWHC 1292 (Admin) - acted successfully for the Secretary of State in a challenge to the decisions on night flying restrictions at Heathrow airport (with John Howell QC and Martin Chamberlain)
  • Heathrow Airport Limited & others v Garman & others [2007] All ER (D) 28 (Aug) - acted successfully for Transport for London and London Underground Limited in relation to Heathrow Airport's claim for an injunction to prevent disruption by environmental protesters (with Martin Chamberlain)
  • Acted for a rail operator in a challenge to the charging for police services by the British Transport Police Authority (with Jonathan Crow QC)
  • Acted successfully for the LSC in judicial reviews of the conditions for applications for the Unified Contract (Crime) July 2008 (unled)
  • Assisted Jemima Stratford QC in relation to several ECtHR cases involving child care proceedings, in which issues arose under Articles 6 and 8 ECHR
  • Advised on the application of the Data Protection Act 1998 to USAID's proposed ‘Partner Vetting Scheme' for nongovernmental organisations (with Jemima Stratford QC and Maya Lester)

European Union law

Many of Sarah's instructions, for both litigation and advisory work, raise points of European Union law. Sarah has particular experience of advising on Directive 93/13/EEC on unfair terms in consumer contracts and on Directive 2004/18/EC on public procurement. Matters on which Sarah is working and has worked involving European Union law include:

  • WHA v HM Revenue & Customs [2007] EWCA Civ 728, on appeal to the Supreme Court - acting for HMRC in proceedings concerning the application of the ECJ's Halifax judgment on ‘abuse of right' (with Jonathan Peacock QC and Aidan Robertson QC), having previously assisted as a pupil of Aidan Robertson
  • R (Imperial Tobacco Limited & others) v Secretary of State for Health - see under ‘Public and administrative law (including human rights)’ above
  • Office of Fair Trading v Abbey National plc & others - see under ‘Competition and regulatory law' above
  • Office of Fair Trading v Foxtons Limited - see under ‘Competition and regulatory law' above
  • Acted in an appeal against an order registering a judgment for over £1 million under Council Regulation (EC) No. 44/2001 (unled)
  • Advised Transport for London on the compatibility of licensing conditions for taxis with EU and disability discrimination law (with Martin Chamberlain)
  • Advised on the interpretation of a proposed new regulation in the Third Maritime Safety Package (assisting Nicholas Green QC)
  • Advised (led and unled) on the application of public procurement directives to a range of sectors and industries, including defence procurement, legal services and television programmes

Commercial law

Sarah's county court advocacy has included a range of commercial disputes. Larger commercial litigation and advisory matters on which she has worked include:

  • Office of Fair Trading v Abbey National plc & others - see under ‘Competition and regulatory law' above
  • Office of Fair Trading v Foxtons Limited - see under ‘Competition and regulatory law' above
  • British Energy Power and Energy Trading Limited & others v Credit Suisse & others [2008] EWCA Civ 53 - appeal from [2007] EWHC 1428 (Comm) on whether the restrictions in an option agreement, which was part of a wider financial restructuring arrangement, prohibited a lending bank from exercising its option on the direction of or for the benefit of sub-participants (with Jonathan Sumption QC)
  • Jayam NV v The Diamond Trading Company Ltd [2007] EWHC 370 (Ch) (as a pupil of Daniel Jowell QC)
  • Advised on the construction of various gas sales agreements (as a pupil of Daniel Jowell QC and Helen Davies QC)
  • Prepared for a major reinsurance arbitration (as a pupil of Daniel Jowell QC)

Further information

Career and other relevant experience

Sarah was called to the Bar in 2006 (Middle Temple) and has been a member of Chambers since completing her pupillage (with Daniel Jowell QC, Helen Davies QC, Aidan Robertson QC and Martin Chamberlain) in September 2007. She was appointed to the Attorney General's C Panel of Junior Counsel to the Crown in March 2010.

Sarah was invited in 2006 to attend the World Trade Institute Summer Program in Berne, as a prize for winning the previous year's WTO Moot Court Competition. During 2005-06, she was a tutor in contract law on the LLB course at City University and judged and coached City students for internal and external mooting competitions.

Before studying law, Sarah was a research economist at the Institute for Fiscal Studies during 2003-04.

Prizes & Scholarships

  • Baron Dr Ver Heyden de Lancey Prize for the Bar Vocational Course, Middle Temple (2006)
  • 3 Verulam Buildings Prize for best overall examination results in Graduate Diploma in Law, City University (2005)
  • Winner, European Law Students' Association WTO Moot Court Competition (2005); also winner of prizes for best written memorials and UK round
  • Queen Mother's Fund Scholarships for Graduate Diploma in Law and Bar Vocational Course, Middle Temple (2004 & 2005)
  • Harmsworth Entrance Award, Middle Temple (2004)
  • Michael von Clemm Fellowship to study at Harvard University (2002)
  • Hicks and Webb Medley Prize for Economics (best in year) in Final Examinations, University of Oxford (2002)
  • Proxime accessit to the Gibbs Prize for Politics (runner up) in Final Examinations, University of Oxford (2002)
  • Gibbs Prize for Politics (best in year) in Preliminary Examinations, University of Oxford (2000)

Publications

Law publications

  • Blakeley R, Knight C, Love S, The New Tribunals Handbook. Bloomsbury Professional, 2011
  • Contributor to Brealey QC, Green QC (general eds),Competition Litigation. UK Practice and Procedure. OUP, 2010
  • Love S. The Merger Action Group Case. (2009) Competition Law Journal 8(2), 107
  • Robertson A, Lester M, Love S. Judicial review in the United Kingdom of Competition and State Aid Decisions - Part I. [2007] 10 ECLR 553
  • Robertson A, Lester M, Love S. Judicial review in the United Kingdom of Competition and State Aid Decisions - Part II. [2007] 11 ECLR 585

Selected economics publications

  • Love S. Fiscal policy: principles and practice. Economic Review 2004; 22
  • Emmerson C, Frayne C, Love S. Updating the UK's code for fiscal stability. IFS Working Paper W04/29, November 2004
  • Emmerson C, Frayne C, Love S. A Survey of Public Spending in the UK. IFS Briefing Note No. 43, updated September 2004
  • Emmerson C, Frayne C, Love S. The government's fiscal rules. IFS Briefing Note No. 16, updated August 2004
  • Chote R, Emmerson C, Frayne C, Love S. Planning the public finances (Chapter 2, pp.8-27) and IFS public finance forecasts (Chapter 3, pp.28-40), in Chote R, Emmerson C, Oldfield Z (eds). The IFS Green Budget: January 2004
  • Emmerson C & Love S. Issues in public service delivery (Chapter 7, pp.85-110), in The IFS Green Budget: January 2004
  • Clark T, Elsby M, Love S. Trends in British public investment. Fiscal Studies 2002; 23: 305-42.

Memberships

  • Bar Pro Bono Unit
  • Free Representation Unit
  • Bar European Group (Phoenicia Scholar, 2007)
  • ALBA
  • HRLA
  • ARDL
  • Combar
  • South Eastern Circuit

Languages

Sarah speaks reasonable French and basic Spanish.