Brick Court Chambers

Sarah Abram KC

Sarah Abram KC

YEAR OF CALL: England and Wales: 2006; Ireland: 2017    YEAR OF SILK: 2022

“A brilliant barrister with superb judgement, and a smiling assassin in cross-examination" (Legal 500 2024); “fantastic, incredibly bright, and ruthlessly focused” (Chambers & Partners 2024)
(Chambers & Partners 2024)
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Sarah Abram KC was called in 2006 and took silk in 2022; she is described in the directories as “a star of both the present and the future” and having an “[i]ncredible knack of being on top of everything all of the time”.  

Sarah is a leading competition, EU and commercial law silk.  Recent and current highlights include:

  • Leading at the trial of a US$200 million international arbitration in a contractual dispute (November 2023)
  • Obtaining the first ever collective settlement approval order in the CAT (RoRo [2023] CAT 75)
  • Leading for BMW in the Court of Appeal in a seminal case regarding the scope of the CMA’s powers to obtain documents post-Brexit ([2023] EWCA Civ 1506)
  • Acting for Telefonica (O2) in its successful defence of an £800 million claim regarding the collapse of Phones4U at a 3-month trial [2023] EWHC 2826 (Ch)
  • Leading for the CMA, successfully defending Motorola’s claim for judicial review against findings in a market investigation in Airwave v CMA [2023] CAT 76
  • Acting as lead counsel for Ryanair in an abuse of dominance claim brought by OnTheBeach (listed for trial early 2025, Chancery Division)
  • Leading for Merck in the Citalopram Pay-for-Delay follow-on claim brought by the NHS
  • Being instructed to lead teams for Ericsson and Panasonic on global FRAND issues, and for a third party in the Optis v Apple litigation
  • Leading for Volvo/Renault across the Second Wave Trucks claims
  • Heading defendant teams in CPO litigation including Rail Fares (listed for trial summer 2024, CAT), Crypto-currency and FX, and in other group litigation including Emissions

Current directories include comments that Sarah is “[a]n emerging force in silk”, “an excellent advocate”, “a joy to work with” and “so proactive”.

Sarah speaks fluent French and some German.

Sarah won the award for Pro Bono Junior of the Year in 2021, and is a Trustee and Vice-Chair of Advocate (formerly the Bar Pro Bono Unit). 

Expand All
  • Competition M
    • BMW v CMA: leading team acting for BMW in a seminal case regarding the scope of the CMA’s powers to obtain documents post-Brexit ([2023] CAT 7; [2023] EWCA Civ 1506).
    • Maritime Car Carriers Commission Decision: leading team acting for an addressee of the Commission’s “RoRo” decision, in follow-on damages claims and CPO proceedings.  Sarah obtained the first ever collective settlement approval order for her client in this litigation, [2023] CAT 75. 
    • Airwave v CMA: leading for the CMA, successfully defending Motorola’s claim for judicial review challenging the findings of a market investigation, [2023] CAT 76.
    • Phones4U v Telefonica & ors (with Mark Hoskins KC): acting for O2/Telefonica in its successful defence of the £800 million litigation brought by the administrators of Phones4U regarding an alleged collective withdrawal from Phones4U by mobile network operators.  Three-month liability trial heard in 2022, [2023] EWHC 2826 (Ch).  The litigation also gave rise to an important judgment from the Court of Appeal on the Court’s jurisdiction over documents held on personal devices for disclosure purposes is at [2021] EWCA Civ 116. 
    • Rail Fares CPO application (Justin Gutmann v Stagecoach & ors): leading team acting for one of the respondents to an application for a collective proceedings order, in the first standalone collective proceedings and the first to concern an alleged abuse of dominance.  Trial of abuse issues listed June/July 2024. 
    • OnTheBeach v Ryanair: leading for Ryanair in this abuse of dominance claim, listed for trial early 2025 (Chancery Division), concerning steps taken to prevent screenscraping activities by “bots”.
    • Citalopram Pay-for-Delay: leading for Merck in this follow-on claim brought by the NHS.
    • BSV Claims v Bittylicious & ors: leading for Kraken, one of the respondents to the Crypto-currency CPO application.  The claim concerns alleged collusion between crypto-currency exchanges via Twitter to delist BSV, a crypto-currency.
    • FRAND litigation: leading for Ericsson and Panasonic on global FRAND issues; acting for a third party in the Optis v Apple litigation.
    • Trucks cartel: leading for Volvo and Renault Trucks in the “Second Wave” Trucks claims.  Listed for three-month trial in 2025-2026.
    • FX collective claim (Evans): acting for HSBC in proposed collective proceedings concerning alleged collusion between banks engaging in foreign exchange trading.
    • BMW Emissions litigation: leading on competition issues for BMW in this proposed group litigation against BMW in connection with alleged “defeat devices”. 
    • Sisvel v Archos & ors: instructed on the FRAND aspects of this multi-jurisdictional litigation regarding patent pool licensing.  Appeared unled at numerous hearings, including before the Court of Appeal ([2020] EWCA Civ 1562; High Court judgment at [2020] EWHC 2641 Ch (Pat)); whether a pool licence may be FRAND ([2021] EWHC 1541 (Pat)); the scope of disclosure in FRAND cases ([2020] EWHC 2177 Ch (Pat)).
    • Vattenfall AB & ors v Prysmian & NKT (with Aidan Robertson KC): counsel for the Claimants in this follow-on damages claim relating to the power cables cartel, listed for trial in November/December 2022; settled late 2022.  The Defendants’ unsuccessful summary determination and jurisdiction application is reported at [2018] EWHC 1694 (Ch).
    • Confidential matter: leading a team drafting standalone collective proceedings, intended to be issued in 2024.
    • Mediamarkt Saturn Holdings v Panasonic & ors [2019] EWHC 1095 (Ch): acted unled for Panasonic in this follow-on damages claim relating to the CRT cartel, with a claimed value of approximately €200 million. 
    • Intercontinental Exchange, Inc v Competition and Markets Authority [2017] CAT 6 (with Marie Demetriou KC): junior counsel for the CMA in this high-profile case, in which the CMA successfully defended its first decision requiring unwinding of a completed merger.
    • Granville v MELCO: acting unled for a defendant to this damages claim in connection with the DRAM cartel.
    • International arbitration (unled), involving a challenge to the lawfulness of a number of contractual clauses under EU competition law, including pre- and post-termination non-compete obligations.
    • Apple v Nokia (with Jemima Stratford KC and Adrian Speck KC): junior counsel for Nokia (i.e. the patentee) in this major competition law litigation raising issues relating to FRAND terms and abuse of dominance for the licensing of intellectual property rights.
    • Acting as junior counsel for Panasonic and Sanyo, defendants in the lithium ion batteries follow-on claim (Microsoft v Sony & ors), which had an alleged value of almost €2 billion.
    • Acting unled for a bank in connection with High Court applications for disclosure of documents relating to it, including documents from the Commission file, in proceedings to which the client was not a party.
    • Thomas Armstrong Timber Ltd: (unled) advised and represented a firm subject to an investigation into a cartel in the market for the supply of furniture parts.  The firm reached a settlement with the CMA (decision issued 27 March 2017). The infringement is now the subject of follow-on damages proceedings (Henderson & Jones v Thomas Armstrong).
    • Whitby Seafoods/Dawnfresh Seafoods: advised Whitby Seafoods (unled) on the CMA’s investigation of its acquisition of assets owned by Dawnfresh Seafoods.  The CMA issued a Phase 1 clearance decision in June 2016.
    • Unwired Planet v Huawei, Samsung and Google (with Jemima Stratford KC and Richard Meade KC): junior counsel for the Claimant in this landmark UK FRAND litigation, leading to the judgment of Birss J, [2017] EWHC 711 (Pat).
    • Case T-82/13 Panasonic Corporation v Commission (with Mark Hoskins KC): appeal to the General Court against the Commission’s CRT cartel Decision.
    • Tomlinson v OFT [2011] CAT 7 (with Aidan Robertson KC): successful appeal to the CAT against a penalty imposed by the OFT on one of the addressees of its September 2009 Decision concerning cover-pricing in the construction industry.
    • A Nelson & Co Ltd v Guna SpA [2011] EWHC 1202 (Comm) (with Fergus Randolph KC): acting on behalf of the claimants, successfully contested a competition law Euro-defence, aimed at preventing enforcement of the contract which was the subject of the claim.
    • National Grid v Ofgem [2009] CAT 14 (with Fergus Randolph KC): instructed for an intervener in National Grid's appeal against a Decision by Ofgem finding that National Grid had abused its position of dominance in the market for domestic gas metering.
    • BAGS and ors v AMRAC and ors ([2008] EWHC 1978 (Ch); [2008] EWHC 2688 (Ch)) (with Nicholas Green KC, Pushpinder Saini KC and Mark Hoskins KC): competition law claim involving challenges to the validity of various agreements for broadcast media rights to live horseracing.
    • Frequent advisory work on issues of competition law, including the law of State aid.
  • EU law M
    • BMW v CMA: leading team acting for BMW in a seminal case regarding the scope of the CMA’s powers to obtain documents post-Brexit ([2023] CAT 7; [2023] EWCA Civ 1506).
    • Cases T-9/19; C-212/21P ClientEarth v European Investment Bank: appeared unled at the hearing of a successful application for annulment to the General Court in a case relating to financing for the construction of a biomass power plant.  Led to seminal judgments of the General Court and CJEU on the scope and importance of the Aarhus Regulation and environmental law in the EU legal order: T:2021:42; C:2023:546.  Acting pro bono. 
    • BMW Emissions litigation: leading on competition issues for BMW in this proposed group litigation against BMW in connection with alleged “defeat devices”.
    • Bryant v Marriott (with Michael Silverleaf KC): acting for the Class Representative and proposed Claimant class in a high-profile data breach claim relating to the Marriott/Sheraton hotel group database under the GDPR and Data Protection Act 1998.  On behalf of c.7 million class members.
    • Jukes v Facebook (with Michael Silverleaf KC): acting for the Class Representative and proposed Claimant class in a data breach claim relating to the Cambridge Analytica scandal.  On behalf of c.1 million class members.
    • Case C-268/17 AY (with Maya Lester KC), judgment of 25 July 2018: acting for the defendant to national proceedings in a preliminary reference to the CJEU concerning human rights issues in the execution of a European Arrest Warrant, and the principle of ne bis in idem/double jeopardy.
    • Reeves v HMRC [2017] UKFTT 192 (TC); [2018] UKUT 0293: acting for HMRC in its defence of an appeal against a tax determination, raising issues of EU free movement law.  The taxpayer’s appeal to the Upper Tribunal was heard in July 2018.  Sarah shared the oral advocacy on behalf of HMRC with her leader in both the FTT and the Upper Tribunal.
    • Challenges to Tobacco Products Directive (Directive 2014/40/EU) [2014] EWHC 3515 (Admin); [2014] EWHC 3669 (Admin) (with Mark Hoskins KC): Sarah was instructed as junior counsel for the Secretary of State for Health in the domestic judicial review claims challenging the validity of the Tobacco Products Directive.  All of these claims were referred to the Court of Justice of the European Union; its judgments, dismissing the claims, were given on 4 May 2016. 
    • UKPNS v GEMA [2014] EWHC 3678 (Admin) (with Richard Gordon KC): successful claim for judicial review seeking the quashing of an Ofgem determination on the Third Package of EU law measures providing for access to electricity markets.
    • Door 2 Door Services Ltd v Burton NHS Trust (unled): public procurement claim relating to a procuring body's withdrawal of a tender process, acting for the claimant.
    • Hargreaves Industrial Services Ltd v Yorkshire Forward: defending a public procurement claim relating to a decision to award the contract to another tenderer.
    • JPMorgan v BVG: jurisdiction dispute, in which the Supreme Court made a preliminary reference to the CJEU on questions of the interpretation of the Brussels Regulation (for judgments below, see [2010] EWCA Civ 390; [2010] 2 WLR 690, [2009] EWHC 1627 (Comm)) (with Tim Lord KC and Simon Salzedo KC).
    • UBS AG v Kommunale Wasserwerke Leipzig ([2010] EWHC 2566 (Comm)) (with Tim Lord KC and Stephen Midwinter KC): also raised issues of jurisdiction under the Brussels Regulation.
    • Sarah has a particular interest in public procurement and State aid law; she is frequently instructed in litigation or to advise in these fields.
  • Commercial M
    • Leading at the trial of a US$200 million international arbitration in a contractual dispute (November 2023)
    • Phones4U v Telefonica & ors (with Mark Hoskins KC): acting for O2/Telefonica in its successful defence of the £800 million litigation brought by the administrators of Phones4U regarding an alleged collective withdrawal from Phones4U by mobile network operators.  Three-month liability trial heard in 2022, [2023] EWHC 2826 (Ch).  The litigation also gave rise to an important judgment from the Court of Appeal on the Court’s jurisdiction over documents held on personal devices for disclosure purposes is at [2021] EWCA Civ 116. 
    • OnTheBeach v Ryanair: leading for Ryanair in Chancery Division trial listed for early 2025 concerning measures taken to prevent screenscraping activities by “bots”.
    • Acerus v Recipharm: Commercial Court proceedings (unled) relating to breaches of contracts for the manufacture and supply of a pharmaceutical product.  Successful in a preliminary issue trial in June 2021, arguing that the claim was not barred by a contractual exclusion clause: [2021] EWHC 1878 (Comm). 
    • BSV Claims v Bittylicious & ors: leading for Kraken, one of the respondents to the Crypto-currency CPO application.  The claim concerns alleged collusion between crypto-currency exchanges via Twitter to delist BSV, a crypto-currency.
    • International commercial arbitration concerning contractual royalty payments in the pharmaceutical industry (with Daniel Jowell KC).  Raised issues of intellectual property in addition to questions of contractual construction.
    • Canal & River Trust v Thames Water Utilities Ltd [2016] EWHC 1547 (Ch), [2018] EWCA Civ 342 (with Sa’ad Hossain KC): Sarah was instructed as junior counsel for the Defendant in this Part 8 claim regarding payment for water abstractions from the River Lee, from the commencement of the proceedings through to the judgment of the Court of Appeal.  In the Court of Appeal, the oral advocacy was split between Sarah and her leader.
    • Allianz Global Investors & ors v HSBC & ors (with Helen Davies KC): acting for HSBC in a damages claim brought by c.175 claimants concerning alleged collusion between banks engaging in foreign exchange trading.
    • Bryant v Marriott (with Michael Silverleaf KC): acting for the Class Representative and proposed Claimant class in a high-profile data breach claim relating to the Marriott/Sheraton hotel group database under the GDPR and Data Protection Act 1998.
    • Jukes v Facebook (with Michael Silverleaf KC): acting for the Class Representative and proposed Claimant class in a data breach claim relating to the Cambridge Analytica scandal.  On behalf of c.1 million class members.
    • International commercial arbitration (unled) involving tortious and contractual claims following purchase of rights to a pharmaceutical product.
    • JPMorgan v BVG (with Tim Lord KC and Simon Salzedo KC): credit crunch claim relating to a derivatives transaction (CDS/CDO), raising issues of jurisdiction under the Brussels Regulation. The litigation reached both the Supreme Court and the Court of Justice of the European Union.
    • Fortress Value Recovery Fund v Blue Skye Special Opportunities Fund (with Tim Lord KC) eg [2012] EWHC 261 (Comm); [2012] EWHC 451 (Comm); [2012] EWHC 1486 (Comm): acting for the defendant managers in this dispute concerning a €200M investment structure and claims brought by certain investors and the lender. Amongst other things, the proceedings involved interim freezing injunctions and other interim relief.
    • Tata Steel UK Ltd v Metal & Waste Recycling Ltd: acted unled for the Claimant in a claim relating to loss caused by a fire in a steelmaking plant.
    • AAH Pharmaceuticals Ltd v Birdi & ors [2011] EWHC 1625 (QB) (with Harry Matovu KC): acting for the claimant in a fraud claim relating to allegations of diversion of funds, including claims for breach of contract and equitable and tortious wrongs. Proceedings involved (amongst other things) obtaining freezing injunctions against various defendants and dealing with complex issues of service out of the jurisdiction. Summary judgment was obtained against the defendants in June 2011.
    • A Nelson & Co Ltd v Guna SpA [2011] EWHC 1202 (Comm) (with Fergus Randolph KC): acting for the claimants in a breach of contract claim relating to the failure by a distributor to comply with contractual obligations to transfer registrations necessary for the sale of products in Italy as homeopathic. The Claimants successfully obtained judgment on issues of liability in the Commercial Court.
  • Public Law M
    • Airwave v CMA: leading for the CMA, successfully defending Motorola’s claim for judicial review challenging the findings of a market investigation, [2023] CAT 76.
    • Cases T-9/19; C-212/21P ClientEarth v European Investment Bank: appeared unled at the hearing of a successful application for annulment to the General Court in a case relating to financing for the construction of a biomass power plant.  Led to seminal judgments of the General Court and CJEU on the scope and importance of the Aarhus Regulation and environmental law in the EU legal order: T:2021:42; C:2023:546.  Acting pro bono. 
    • Pro bono work: Sarah is Vice-Chair and a Trustee of Advocate (formerly the Bar Pro Bono Unit).  She was awarded Pro Bono Junior of the Year in 2021.   Sarah is also a Liaison Reviewer for Advocate, in which capacity she considers whether applications for assistance are eligible for pro bono help, and assists other reviewers in considering applications for assistance.
    • Case C-268/17 AY (with Maya Lester KC): acting for the defendant to national proceedings in a preliminary reference to the CJEU concerning human rights issues in the execution of a European Arrest Warrant, and the principle of ne bis in idem/double jeopardy.
    • Canal & River Trust v Thames Water Utilities Ltd [2016] EWHC 1547 (Ch), [2018] EWCA Civ 342 (with Sa’ad Hossain KC): Sarah was instructed as junior counsel for the Defendant in this Part 8 claim regarding payment for water abstractions from the River Lee, from the commencement of the proceedings through to the judgment of the Court of Appeal.  In the Court of Appeal, the oral advocacy was split between Sarah and her leader.
    • R (Bajracharya) v SSHD [2018] EWCA Civ 277: Sarah acted pro bono in the Court of Appeal for the appellant in his challenge to a decision to refuse permission for judicial review of a refusal of a Tier 2 (General) worker’s visa.
    • Speciality Produce Ltd & ors v Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (with Aidan Robertson KC): acted for the Claimants in a Francovich claim relating to losses caused by the wrongful denial of payments under the Common Agricultural Policy.  Settled shortly before trial in February 2019.
    • R (WXYZ) v Secretary of State for Health [2015] EWCA Civ 1034 (with Marie Demetriou KC): Sarah acted as junior counsel for the successful Secretary of State in this claim for judicial review concerning the sharing of patient data for the purpose of imposing immigration sanctions.
    • R (Owusu) v Secretary of State for Home Department [2015] EWHC 1102 (Admin): instructed unled for the Home Secretary in a substantive judicial review concerning a claim for leave to remain on asylum and private/family life grounds.
    • R (Linda Ellard Ltd) v Legal Services Commission: acted unled for the LSC in a judicial review claim involving a challenge to the rules on the allocation of duty solicitor slots.
    • R (UKPNS) v GEMA [2014] EWHC 3678 (Admin) (with Richard Gordon KC): successful claim for judicial review seeking the quashing of an Ofgem determination on the Third Package of EU law measures providing for access to electricity markets.
    • Challenges to Tobacco Products Directive (Directive 2014/40/EU) [2014] EWHC 3515 (Admin); [2014] EWHC 3669 (Admin) (with Mark Hoskins KC): Sarah was instructed as junior counsel for the Secretary of State for Health in the domestic judicial review claims challenging the validity of the Tobacco Products Directive.  All of these claims were referred to the Court of Justice of the European Union; its judgments, dismissing the claims, were given on 4 May 2016. 
  • Qualifications M
    • Bar Vocational Course, Inns of Court School of Law- Outstanding (2006)
    • Bachelor of Civil Law, Oxford University- Distinction (2005)
    • LL.B., Law and French, Bristol University- First Class Honours, finished 1st in year (2004); also finished 1st in first and second year examinations (2001 and 2002)
    • University of Poitiers, Diploma of French Law- Mention Très Bien (equivalent to First Class) (2003)
    • Grays Inn Tax Chambers Award for highest mark in the law of Personal Taxation on the BCL (2005)
    • AHRB Postgraduate Award to fund study on the BCL (2004-2005)
    • Freshfields Prize for Trusts for highest mark in Trusts Law (2004)
    • Kendrick School (state school): 1993-2000
  • Directory Quotes M
    • "She gives very clear submissions and handles the court well." (Chambers & Partners 2024)
    • "Clients rate Sarah extremely highly; she is an excellent advocate and provides clear and commercial strategic advice. It is also a real pleasure to work with Sarah!" (Chambers & Partners 2024)
    • "She is clever, insightful and a joy to work with." (Chambers & Partners 2024)
    • "Wonderful to work with, so proactive and helpful." (Chambers & Partners 2024)
    • "Very knowledgeable." (Chambers & Partners 2024)
    • "Sarah is a bright and quick advocate who is charming to deal with." (Chambers & Partners 2024)
    • "Sarah Abram is incredibly organised and very highly regarded." (Chambers & Partners 2024)
    • "Sarah is fantastic, incredibly bright, and ruthlessly focused on detail." (Chambers & Partners 2024)
    • "A brilliant barrister with superb judgement, and a smiling assassin in cross-examination." (Legal 500 2024)
    • "An emerging force in silk after many years as a leading junior in competition law. Clients love her enthusiastic application to their cases." (Legal 500 2024)
    • "Sarah is intelligent, astute and extremely client-friendly." (Chambers & Partners 2023)
    • "Her advocacy is excellent." (Chambers & Partners 2023)
    • "She will hold out for her clients and is canny in court hearings." (Chambers & Partners 2023)
    • "Sarah is incredibly quick and charming. She reads the room very well and has a reassuring manner, and clients love her. She homes in on critical points and has a good instinct for where you will end up and how to get there." (Chambers & Partners 2023)
    • "Sarah is very versatile and super smart. Every client loves her." (Chambers & Partners 2023)
    • "Clear in her advice and highly responsive, she is very user-friendly and easy to deal with." 
    • ''Sarah is technically excellent, extremely user-friendly, and her written and oral advocacy stands up very well.’' (Legal 500 2023)
    • '‘Incredible knack of being on top of everything all of the time, from the high level strategy to the finer detail. Loved by clients, instructing solicitors and co-counsel alike. Very proactive, will drive a case forward and has the ability to herd cats when necessary in multi-party litigation.'' (Legal 500 2023)
    • ‘'Sarah is a star of both the present and the future. She is always well-liked by clients and is exceptionally knowledgeable in this complex and fast paced area of law. Her advocacy style is always focussed and easy to follow whilst grappling with difficult technical issues.’' (Legal 500 2023)
    • '‘Sarah is a very skilled advocate and has a talent for distilling complex legal points down to a digestible format for her clients. ’' (Legal 500 2023)
    • "She brings all the technical brilliance to the team. She really rolls up her sleeves: she is incredibly proactive, responsive and always prepared to go the extra mile. Very positive and a delightful person to be dealing with, she brings real energy and positivity to the chain."  (Chambers & Partners 2022)
    • "A really impressive, excellent advocate who is very knowledgeable. She is excellent on her feet and went above and beyond for us in circumstances made more difficult by the COVID-19 pandemic."  (Chambers & Partners 2022)
    • "Sarah is ferociously bright, and you can put her in a room with anybody. She is user-friendly and very, very impressive."  (Chambers & Partners 2022)
    • "She is very clever and practical while being very effective in her advocacy." (Chambers & Partners 2022)
    • "Sarah is without a doubt a star of her generation. Now a senior junior, she is a stand-out for her depth of knowledge and range of experience." (Legal 500 2022)
    • "She provides clear concise advice, is extremely pragmatic, a real team player and a joy to work with." (Legal 500 2022)
    • "Sarah is incredibly quick, helpful and a persuasive advocate." "She is a superstar – brilliant on her feet, knows the law and writes clearly and concisely." (Chambers & Partners 2021)
    • "She is really brilliant." (Chambers & Partners 2021)
    • "Really good on her feet and knows her stuff." "She is an excellent junior for competition disputes in particular." (Chambers & Partners 2021)
    • "Very organised, pro-active, always a pleasure to work with on even the most stressful cases – very clear and articulate on her feet." (Legal 500 2021)
    • "Great confidence and courtroom presence as well as expertise in this area. Her advocacy is very effective and measured." (Legal 500 2021)
    • "I consider Sarah to be one of the pre-eminent senior juniors in this area. She has an unusual ability to both be on top of the detail but also provide excellent issues on strategic matters. She has excellent judgement and is unafraid to input and express her views on important decisions. She is a calm and measured, and very effective, oral advocate. Definitely a future star silk.’ (Legal 500 2021)
    • "Very knowledgeable on anything competition-related, and a very good advocate." "She's incredibly good at dealing with clients, and cutting through the noise on a case to pinpoint the key issues." (Chambers & Partners UK & Global 2020)
    • "Is right on top of the detail in cases whilst also offering really good strategic thinking." She has "good judgement about those arguments to take forward and those to drop," and "can take decisions quickly." "Sarah is a very accomplished speaker in court and presents her case well." (Chambers & Partners UK & Global 2020)
    • "An exceptional lawyer, extremely good to deal with, very sharp, with excellent drafting and presentation." (The Legal 500 2020)
    • "Persuasive in conference, her advocacy on paper is extremely impressive." (The Legal 500 2020)
    • "A strong junior." (The Legal 500 2020)
    • "Always on top of her brief, terrifyingly clever, and someone who always keeps her eye on the client's commercial goals, she is an absolute delight to work with." "She's very bright, and engaging to debate with." (Chambers & Partners 2019)
    • "Quick and efficient, and "super knowledgeable on competition matters." (Chambers & Partners UK & Global 2019)
    • "Excellent technical skills allied with a fantastic capacity to analyse complex material." (The Legal 500 2018-19)
    • "Hardworking and great at dealing with difficult clients (or difficult judges)." (The Legal 500 2018-19)
    • "A great lawyer who has an indefatigable personality, which is particularly valuable during attritional litigation. Clients appreciate her enthusing personality." (The Legal 500 2018-19)
    • "Knows how to take big decisions and is confident in her tactical approach." "She's an excellent junior for competition disputes." (Chambers & Partners 2018)
    • "Her attention to detail, accuracy and ability to communicate complicated things to clients is fantastic." (Chambers & Partners 2018)
    • "Highly recommended for banking disputes." (The Legal 500 2017)
    • "A high-class advocate, who gets to the heart of a legal problem very quickly." (The Legal 500 2017)
    • "An outstanding junior, who always sees the wood for the trees." (The Legal 500 2017)
    • "She's really willing to get stuck into a case and gets to the nub of very complicated cases in a ridiculously quick time." (Chambers & Partners 2017)
    • "She has very fine analytical skills, is very responsive and has the ability to absorb and digest complex facts and issues very rapidly." (Chambers & Partners 2017)
    • “She is totally reliable and has excellent judgment.” (The Legal 500 2016)
    • “One of the most intellectually able juniors.” (The Legal 500 2016)
    • "Sarah is clearly incredibly intelligent and her written advocacy is really superb. She excels at becoming part of the team." (Chambers & Partners 2016)
    • "Incredibly helpful, very clever and someone who always puts the instructing solicitor in the best position to advise the client." (Chambers & Partners 2016)
    • "She's very approachable so you can call her any time." (Chambers & Partners 2016)
    • "A fast and very hard worker, who is excellent and going places." (The Legal 500 2015)
    • "Always offers extremely sound advice." (The Legal 500 2015)
    • Ranked in Competition Law – UK in Chambers Global 2015.
    • “Enters the table this year on the back of a consistent level of praise from the market. She is particularly singled out for her client service and advocacy skills.” (Chambers & Partners 2015)
    • "She was very, very good and excellent with the client." "She is beyond where she should be in terms of her litigation skills and decision making for one of her call." (Chambers & Partners 2015)
    • “Has a strong commercial litigation and arbitration practice, and has expertise in EU and competition law.” (Chambers & Partners 2015)
    • "Highly intelligent, extremely hardworking and also great fun to work with." (The Legal 500 2014)
    • "Brings a quality to her cases which is well beyond her year of call." (The Legal 500 2014)
    • "She's an incredibly fast worker, seriously clever and very user-friendly and versatile" (Chambers & Partners 2014)
    • "a market favourite" (Chambers & Partners 2013)
    • "has been identified by a number of sources as one to watch closely. Instructing solicitors say she is 'a strong junior' who is 'very hard-working' and 'willing to get into the detail' of a case." (Chambers & Partners 2013)
    • "Sarah Abram is ‘very much in demand and on her way to the very top'" (The Legal 500 2012)
  • Languages M

    French and German