Sara Lawson KC
Biography
Sara has over 25 years’ experience as a criminal barrister. She both prosecuted and defended cases from Red Lion Chambers.
At the Bar she specialised in fraud, criminal insolvency and regulatory offences. Before coming to the Bar she was a consultant researcher at the Law Commission.
From 2012 to 2017 she was Standing Counsel to the Insolvency Service (Department for Business). She was on the A List to prosecute cases for the CPS, including the Fraud Division and RASSO (serious sexual offences), the HSE, the Office of Rail and Road and the Environment Agency, and continued to prosecute Health and Safety cases when in Silk (from 2017).
She prosecuted her first case for the SFO as counsel in 1993 and remained on their Panel Counsel List until her appointment at the SFO.
In 2019 she was appointed General Counsel for the SFO. (In civil service terms she is the Legal Director.) She sits on the SFO Board and is a member of Exco running the SFO with DSFO, the COO and the CCO.
She was elected a Barrister Governing Bencher of her Inn in 2015 and is an advocacy trainer.
Previous roles in government
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Director of Legal Services