Sarah Hopkinson

Year of call: 2016

Sarah practices in family law specialising in public and private law children proceedings in addition to domestic abuse and protective orders.

In the 2026 Legal 500 directory, Sarah was ranked as a ‘Tier 4 Leading Junior’ in the category of
Family – Children & Domestic Abuse. It was said that “Sarah has a very attractive advocacy style that is persuasive and reasoned, while remaining true to her client’s instructions. She is always clear and concise, makes good points and fights her client’s corner”.

Sarah accepts instructions from all parties, including parents, local authorities, interveners and
guardians on behalf of children. Sarah has extensive experience working with vulnerable clients.
Sarah also accepts instructions to represent police forces to pursue applications within family
proceedings.

Sarah’s experience has involved acting in cases involving allegations of serious non-accidental injury, controlling and coercive behaviour, sexual assault and parental alienation. These cases have often involved contested expert evidence. Sarah also has experience being led within the family jurisdiction.

Sarah is known for her calm and reassuring manner with clients and her persuasive manner in court. Sarah has been described as “calm and measured”, “confident and eloquent on her feet” with a “very good sense of client empathy”. It has also been said that “Sarah is an extremely talented junior who can deal with voluminous and complex material with ease”.

Sarah’s previous experience involved a mixed practice with criminal law, over which time she
defended and prosecuted regularly in the Crown Court, including acting as junior counsel in complex cases such as attempted murder and attempted rape.

Crime

Practice Summary

Sarah regularly prosecutes and defends in the Crown Court at all stages of proceedings. Sarah is a grade 2 prosecutor. Sarah has experience in cases involving vulnerable defendants, witnesses and youths as well as expert witnesses.

In the 2026 Legal 500 directory, Sarah was ranked as a ‘Tier 3 Leading Junior’ in the category of Crime (General & Fraud). It was said that “Sarah is an extremely talented junior who can deal with voluminous and complex material with ease”.

Notable Cases

R v R, P, B and B (2024): Sarah represented a female who pleaded guilty to assisting her son who was convicted of murdering a man by stabbing. Another two were found guilty of manslaughter. The evidence showed she was aware of the killing and had arranged to collect him and booked him into accommodation under a false name, then provided him with a new sim card and also suggested he pretend someone else brought the knife to the scene and had to use it in self-defence. Sarah mitigated that the client acted impulsively and on motherly instincts.

R v K-B (2024): Acting as a led junior, Sarah represented the Defendant in an 8-day trial involving an allegation of attempted rape. The case involved complex medical and psychological expert evidence and a detailed and thorough abuse of process application was made. Mitigation involved an argument of complex issues of attempt and delay, for which extensive research was required.

R v T (2024): Sarah acted for the Defendant who suffered from extensive mental health issues. He was alleged to have committed two very similar sexual assaults within close proximity, both in time and location and although he was arrested nearby, he denied being the person responsible. The case involved the opposition of an application to adduce bad character evidence and the challenge of identification evidence.

R v W and Others (2025): Sarah’s client had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply drugs of class B. He had previous convictions for supplying cannabis. The total value of cannabis seized was approximately £25,000 but it was believed that the conspiracy was worth significantly more, with the dealer line receiving thousands of calls per month and the client at the top of the chain. During the 2-day sentence, Sarah was able to successfully persuade the judge to significantly reduce the starting point for the sentence.

R v G and P (2025): Acting as junior prosecution counsel, this case involved a man who was shot, although not fatally, at close range twice in the chest from a vehicle that pulled up outside his home. As this man did not wish to give an account to the police, the case proceeded as a victimless prosecution. This case involved a detailed and complex analysis of the tracking of a hired vehicle with the defendants’ cell site locations and CCTV sightings. Within the trial, a highly contentious application to adduce evidence of motive was made, as well as opposing an application to exclude identification evidence.

Family

Practice Summary

Sarah is regularly instructed in both public and private family (children) cases, and has experience representing local authorities, parents and the children’s guardian. Sarah is also experienced in relation to family (domestic abuse) cases and is regularly instructed to represent police forces in the Family Courts in applications relating to disclosure.

In relation to her family practice, Sarah has been described as ‘calm and measured’, ‘confident and eloquent on her feet’ with a ‘very good sense of client empathy’.

In the 2026 Legal 500 directory, Sarah was ranked as a ‘Tier 4 Leading Junior’ in the category of Family – Children & Domestic Abuse. It was said that “Sarah has a very attractive advocacy style that is persuasive and reasoned, while remaining true to her client’s instructions. She is always clear and concise, makes good points and fights her client’s corner”.

Notable Cases

Re F (2024): Acting as a led junior representing the Local Authority, Sarah successfully represented the Local Authority in highly contentious care proceedings which began as private law proceedings in 2021 during which repeated attempts to reinstate the child’s relationship with the mother were unsuccessful. Following a 10-day final hearing, the court granted the LA’s application for removal of the child from the father’s care into the care of the maternal aunt. The father made an application to the CofA for permission to appeal which was successfully argued against.

Re B (2025): Sarah represented an extremely vulnerable mother who required an intermediary throughout and had the benefit of a personal assistant and a support worker. These proceedings began at birth, with the main concerns the cognitive abilities of the parents and their poor mental health. At the final hearing, the court acceded to the application made by Sarah to adjourn to allow a further assessment to take place with the child being returned to parental care.

Re P (2024): Sarah represented the mother in proceedings which began when one child (age 2) was admitted to hospital having suffered a seizure and blood test results revealed a positive result for numerous substances. Sarah made a lengthy application to adjourn the hearing and undertook detailed cross-examination of several professionals resulting in important concessions. Although the main thrust of the parents’ case was that they sought reunification, given the recent shift in attitudes towards open adoption, Sarah addressed the judge extensively on post-adoption contact.

Re W (2024): Sarah represented the Local Authority in lengthy proceedings which were initiated at birth, partly due to concerns that the mother’s older child was murdered by his father at the age of 5 months. A major concern was that both parents had been assessed to need intensive psychological intervention in order to safely parent the child. Positively, the Local Authority agreed to fund the required work and the court eventually granted the LA’s application for a 12-month supervision order
following a successful transition back into parental care.

Notable Cases - Private

A v A (2025): Just 4 weeks after a final order was made by the court which afforded the father a significant amount of unsupervised, overnight contact, the mother emailed the judge who had dealt with those proceedings to say she will be stopping contact, claiming she and the children had been harmed by the father. The father immediately applied to the court to enforce the order. Sarah secured a finding that the allegations were malicious and that the mother was not a reliable witness, and the court’s judgment was that the mother had invented allegations of violence to justify stopping contact.

J v W (2025): Sarah acted for the mother in a case where mother alleged she had fled significant domestic abuse in order to protect her child from harm. Sarah was able to successfully pursue allegations made of controlling and coercive behaviour and physical abuse.

Police

Practice Summary

Sarah is regularly instructed to represent police forces in a range of applications, including Sexual Harm Prevention Orders, Sexual Risk Orders, Stalking Protection Orders, Domestic Violence/Abuse Prevention Orders and Violent Offender Orders. Sarah also accepts instructions to advise police forces.

Notable Cases

CCNP v M (2025): Sarah successfully represented the police force in an appeal against a Sexual Risk Order

CCDP v E-H (2023): Sarah was successful in applying on behalf of the police force for a Sexual Harm Prevention Order

WMP v G (2022): Sarah secured an indefinite Notification Order in respect of a respondent who had an overseas conviction for rape.

Background

Education

2015 - University of Huddersfield – Bachelor of Laws and Masters of Law and Practice (2:1)

2016 - BPP Law School – BPTC (Very Competent)

Prizes/Scholarships

2015 - Lincoln’s Inn – Sir Thomas More Bursary

2015 - BPP Law School – Winner of the BPP advocacy competition

2016 - BPP Law School – Pro Bono award

Professional Membership

The Honourable Society of Lincoln’s Inn

The North Eastern Circuit

Experience

Before joining chambers, Sarah worked as a Home Office Presenting Officer, gaining experience within the First-Tier and Upper Tribunal of the Immigration and Asylum Chamber, where she dealt with appeals relating to asylum, human rights, European law and deportation.

In addition to this, Sarah worked at the University of York as a Problem Based Learning Tutor and at BPP Law School (Leeds) as a Visiting Lecturer, teaching the Asylum, Detention, Deportation and Extradition module.