Sarah Redlich

Sarah Redlich is senior solicitor in the Financial Services Department.Sarah Redlich is a Senior Solicitor in CMS Cameron McKenna LLP’s Financial Services Litigation and Regulatory Disputes Teams.  She qualified with CMS Cameron McKenna LLP in March 2000, having trained with the firm between 1998 and 2000.

Sarah is a domestic and international commercial litigation and regulatory disputes specialist.  She has significant experience of High Court, including the Admiralty and Commercial Court, County Court, and FOS procedure, as well as experience of the Financial Services and Markets Tribunal, the Appeal Courts, and Judicial Review procedure.  She has significant experience of advising in relation to large-scale “wider implication” cases investigated by the Financial Ombudsman Service (“FOS”) and regulatory investigations and enforcement actions brought by the FSA. She also has experience of ADR, including mediation.  She advises clients mainly from the banking and financial services sectors in several areas including negligence, fraud, misrepresentation, breach of statutory duty, and general contractual disputes.

Relevant experience includes advising:

• The exclusive regulatory adviser to a large UK life assurer, in particular advising on all aspects of a number of large and complex Financial Ombudsman Service (“FOS”) investigations in which adverse findings against the firm would potentially affect the whole policyholder population and cause it significant financial detriment and damage to its reputation, in relation to a number of Judicial Review proceedings against FOS, and in relation to potential proceedings brought by a number of individual policyholders in relation to guaranteed annuity pension policies.
• Acting for a number of other financial services providers in relation to similar and different complex FOS investigations carrying the same significant financial and reputational risks if adverse findings were made.
• Acting for a well-known banking and financial services provider on a number of matters arising out of FSA’s requirements in relation to structured products and PPI, including in relation to past and current business reviews, redress identification, and complaints-handling procedures.
• Acting for a large and well-known UK financial services provider in its Defence of complex High Court proceedings arising out of alleged negligence, misrepresentation, and breach of statutory duty in relation to the performance of certain investment products and, in particular, the content of the client’s marketing literature.
• Acting for a UK credit card issuer in relation to declaratory proceedings appealed to the Court of Appeal and the House of Lords in relation to the interpretation of Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974.
• Acting for a large UK and Jersey based fund manager in relation to a Financial Services Authority (“FSA”) investigation (in which the FSA were seeking £350million, settling for £194million), a FOS investigation, and a number of threatened High Court claims, including proposed Group Litigation, arising out of alleged negligence, misrepresentation, and breach of duty in relation to the performance of certain unit and investment trusts.
• Acting for a well-known and large UK financial service provider in relation to an FSA investigation into its sales of mortgages and mortgage repayment vehicles, including preparing it for a hearing before the Regulatory Decisions Committee.
• Acting for a large US bank in a US$30 million multi-party international trade finance fraud, which involved High Court proceedings in London, New York, and Bahrain, and a massive electronic disclosure search in several locations. Ultimately settled after three weeks of Trial.
• Acting for a UK on-line trading company in the defence of a complex contractual claim brought by a customer, and in bringing a counterclaim in fraud, which resulted in the achievement of a favourable settlement.
• Acting for a well-known UK investment management company in the defence of a negligence claim brought by pension fund trustees on the basis of the under-performance of the fund, and a counter-claim brought for non-payment of fees.
• Acting for a UK financial services company in the defence of a misrepresentation claim brought by an investor (unrepresented) and achieving dismissal of the claim following the Allocation Hearing.
  Acting for UK motor vehicle company in bringing a complex £1.6 million contractual claim in the High Court arising out of VAT refund claims made to HM Customs & Excise (as then known) following European case law decisions and achieving a favourable settlement.
• Acting for UK water utility company in defending £28 million breach of contract/intellectual property High Court claim that arose out of an alleged six-year disposal contract with the exclusive supply of one of the waste products discharged from the company’s water treatment process and achieving a favourable settlement two weeks before Trial.
• Ongoing responsibility for Financial Services business development and marketing, including devising and leading campaigns and producing written client materials in relation to a range of legal and regulatory developments including FOS, Judicial Review, collective actions and the new Financial Services Act, and FSA’s new supervisory and enforcement focus.  Speaking regularly at client seminars and workshops and publishing widely on the area.
• Leading the firm’s knowledge and initiative on electronic disclosure; creating and heading up firm focus group, producing a disclosure “Survival Pack” to assist lawyers and clients in this area, presenting a series of talks, attending and participating in a number of external seminars, producing several articles.

Education:

2005 - College of Law, London, Higher Rights Qualification – academic stage

1995 - 1997, College of Law, London, Postgraduate Diploma in Legal Practice (LPC) - Commendation, Diploma in Law (CPE) - pass.

1992-1995, University of Bristol, BA (Hons) 2:1, Modern History.

Education