Sarah is a human rights lawyer with extensive experience working in legal and protection humanitarian programming, primarily in the Middle East. Prior to joining HPG, Sarah worked with the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) implementing legal assistance programmes for displaced populations in the Gaza Strip, Jordan, Ukraine and Syria.

A former Fulbright scholar, Sarah additionally worked as a lecturing fellow and supervising attorney with the International Human Rights Clinic at Duke Law School, where she co-authored the March 2017 report, 'Tightening the Purse Strings: What Countering Terrorism Financing Costs Gender Equality and Security', analysing the impact of counter-terrorism and preventing/countering violent extremism on gender equality. Her research has primarily focused on protection of civilians, humanitarian principles, human rights, forced migration, legal identity, housing, land and property (HLP) rights, and the securitisation of humanitarian aid.

Sarah received her law degree from University of California-Berkeley along with her master’s degree in human rights from the London School of Economics, where she studied as a Rotary Scholar, and her LLM in international human rights law from Queen’s University Belfast. A qualified US lawyer, Sarah’s previous legal pro bono work has included assistance in US capital defence appeals, LGBT asylum applications, human rights investigations and litigation under the Alien Tort Statute and Torture Victim Protection Act and immigration relief for victims of rape and domestic violence under the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA).