Sarah Pritchard is a specialist family law barrister with 20 years’ experience in public and private law children work. She returns to practice with a rare combination of courtroom expertise, frontline child protection knowledge and educational leadership experience.
Sarah practiced for two decades before moving into education, where she served as Director of Wellbeing and a Safeguarding Governor holding responsibility for safeguarding, pupil welfare and mental health strategy. This background gives her exceptional insight into children’s lived experiences, school systems and the multi‑agency processes central to child protection cases.
She has acted at all levels of court for local authorities, children’s guardians, parents and children, including cases involving domestic abuse, child sexual abuse, fabricated illness, non‑accidental injury, shaken baby syndrome, chronic neglect and child death. She is known for her ability to analyse complex evidence swiftly and present clear, persuasive advocacy.
Testimonials consistently praise her calmness under pressure, professional integrity and highly effective court manner. Chambers & Partners described her as:
“Excels in her profession, has a keen eye for detail, is an excellent advocate and is approachable.” “She’s excellent in court, very impressive indeed.”
“She is excellent. She is able to assimilate complex information very quickly and very clearly.” “She has an extremely courteous and effective court manner, and she is always extremely well prepared.”
She is particularly skilled in working directly with children and representing them in proceedings. Her combined legal and educational expertise enables her to interpret professional and school records with precision, understand complex safeguarding concerns and critically analyse multi‑agency decision making.
