Sarah Anderson

Principal Associate

Co-head of Employment, UAE

Practice areas

• Commercial agreements
• Corporate
• Employment law

Practice notes

Sarah is a principal associate in the corporate commercial practice and co-head of the employment practice in the UAE. She is based in the Dubai office. Her practice primarily focuses on employment and immigration law advice to clients based onshore, in free zones or in the UAE’s dedicated financial free zones, Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) and Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM).

Sarah is one of the few practitioners in the UAE offering specialized expertise in DIFC employment law and regularly represents clients through all types of employment litigation including DIFC employment litigation. She is currently representing a US headquartered financial institution on a very high value and complex employment litigation. This case is the first ever employee covenant and confidentiality injunction in the DIFC Courts.

Sarah has extensive experience advising a wide range of corporate clients on contentious and non-contentious employment and HR issues in the UAE and UK. She has considerable knowledge in local custom and practice and has comprehensive understanding of employment law onshore and in the free zones, particularly the DIFC. Sarah has also been seconded to a number of clients during her career to work with their in-house legal and HR teams.

Sarah has been in the UAE for many years. Prior to moving to Dubai, she practiced law in London where she focused on UK employment law and was the primary contact for several key clients. Whilst in the UK, Sarah also acted for employers and employees in the Employment Appeals Tribunal and Court of Appeal, including being the lead lawyer acting for the claimant in a high-profile employment dispute which involved two prominent London fund managers.

Sarah regularly writes articles for external publications, routinely presents at employment law seminars and is a Dubai Legal Affairs Department (DLAD) approved presenter/trainer.

Legal 500 EMEA 2018 recognizes Sarah for UAE employment as “a name of note”.

Sarah studied Law with German Law at University College London and completed her Legal Practice Course at Guildford College of Law. She was admitted to the Law Society of England and Wales in 2009.