Pragmatic and diligent commercial in-house legal counsel

Since her admission to the Bar in 2005, Sarah has worked in a variety of legal roles, both in private practice and in-house legal and in a wide range of industries from sport, telecommunications, IT, banking, logistics through to primary industry.

In addition to her legal roles, Sarah has leadership and governance experience, having held the (non-legal) role of High Performance Director for Equestrian Sports New Zealand for over 4 years and governance roles (both as chair and deputy-chair) of multiple sporting not-for-profit and business (Non-Bank-Deposit-Taker) organisations.

Sarah’s strong academic background, as strengthened by her legal grounding in both private practice and in-house legal practice ensures that she has a diverse range of skills and capabilities that make her an invaluable asset to any organisation. In the legal context, Sarah has extensive experience in reviewing, drafting and advising on transactional documents, commercial contracts and policies and procedures across a variety contexts. Sarah also has current practiced proficiency in the areas of confidentiality, privacy, intellectual property, data protection, child safeguarding, health, safety and wellbeing.

Roles to Date:

• Wairarapa Building Society – Director and Deputy Chair (current)
• Eventing Wairarapa – Chair (current)
• Juno Legal (Senior Lawyer), who supported:
  – High Performance Sport New Zealand
  – Cello Group Limited
  – Fisher & Paykel Appliances
  – Silver Fern Farms
  – New Zealand Post
• Equestrian Sports New Zealand – High Performance Director
• Alcatel Lucent – Senior Lawyer
• Gen-i – Senior Commercial Adviser
• Lloyds TSB Bank pls – IT & Operations Legal Adviser
• Minter Ellison Rudd Watts – Solicitor and Summer Clerk
• Lexis Nexis Publishing – Case Summariser (casual)

Sarah’s background and experience in law has taught her to address challenges systematically, critically and commercially in a pragmatic solutions-based approach. She considers herself a conscientious, astute and commercial mind. Her leadership roles out of the law have provided her with significant management experience and drawn upon her strong communication skills. Sarah strongly believes that the best solutions require team-work and authenticity and she places significant value upon integrity.

Sarah is based in the Wairarapa on a farm in Kahutara – just one hour from Wellington. She is proficient in supporting organisations virtually, and comfortable with travelling as and when required. In recent years, Sarah has provided in-house counsel support for organisations based in Wellington, Auckland and Dunedin with no impact upon organisational understanding, relationship development or availability. Prior to that, Sarah had a team of people across the world, so is well versed in communicating through multiple platforms. Sarah is happy and experienced working independently, but understands the importance of connection.

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