Partner | MinterEllisonRuddWatts
Sarah is a corporate lawyer with more than 20 years’ experience advising clients on public, regulatory and international trade law matters.
A specialist in enabling her clients to address the challenges associated with trading goods and services across national borders, Sarah is the only lawyer from a major New Zealand law firm recognised for Trade Law by The Best Lawyers™ in New Zealand and by the Women in Business Law Awards for Asia. She has market-leading expertise in the areas of sanctions, customs and excise law, import and export controls, anti-dumping and countervailing duty investigations, anti-bribery and corruption, supply chain risk management, shipping and maritime law, domestic and overseas market access requirements, bilateral trade and investment agreements, and World Trade Organisation rules and disputes.
Sarah is also a leading provider of public law, regulatory and government relations advice. Her team is ranked Band 1 for Public Law by Chambers Asia-Pacific 2022. She specialises in assisting private sector clients with complex, sensitive, and often high-profile public law matters. She helps them to understand legal requirements, conduct due diligence, capitalise on regulatory opportunities, participate effectively in regulatory investigations and public inquiries, present persuasively in disputes with decision-makers, and develop arguments and strategies that secure favourable legislative and policy changes.
Sarah has a deep knowledge of the agriculture and fisheries, food and beverage, transportation, postal and distribution sectors. Her clients include Amazon Web Services, ASB Bank, Beef + Lamb New Zealand, Channel Infrastructure, Department for International Trade (United Kingdom), Eat My Lunch, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, Fonterra, Lamb Western, Leidos, Maritime New Zealand, Masport, Meta, RoofTG, SkyCity Entertainment Group, Taharoa Ironsands, The Warehouse Group, Westpac, Windstar and Zespri.
Prior to returning to New Zealand in 2012, Sarah worked in London, Washington D.C., and Paris for 10 years. Before practising law, she was a regulatory economist and a New Zealand Government official. This multijurisdictional and multidisciplinary experience gives Sarah a unique and valuable perspective on international and complex regulatory matters.
Renowned as a strategic thinker, Sarah has clear vision, strong communication skills, commitment, passion, and integrity. She works to understand her clients’ commercial drivers and provides responsive and tailored advice.
A regular contributor to thought leadership, Sarah has contributed to several books, given many presentations and authored many academic essays and media articles on international trade. She has significant involvement with trade-related boards and organisations. She is a board member of AmCham New Zealand (the American Chamber of Commerce in New Zealand) and TradeWorks NZ (the New Zealand International Business Forum). A champion for diversity, she is also a member of Trade Experettes, a global organisation dedicated to supporting women’s voices in international trade.