Sarah has always had a keen interest in oral and written advocacy and in defending the rights of individuals.  During law school, she was a member of the winning team of the national Wilson Moot where she made submissions in the final round before Justice Michael Moldaver of the Supreme Court of Canada.  She also ran the law faculty’s national mooting program during her third year and in that capacity managed team selection and acted as a judge during practice rounds.  After obtaining her law degree, she articled at McCarthy Tétrault LLP in Toronto, working primarily in their litigation group.  She subsequently clerked for Justice Cecily Strickland of the Federal Court of Canada, working closely with her on all of her cases.  Prior to starting her own practice, Sarah worked at a small criminal defence firm in Ottawa where she ran criminal trials and managed her own files from start to finish.

Sarah has successfully defended individuals charged with all kinds of criminal offences including murder, manslaughter, attempted murder, robbery, offences involving firearms and other weapons, impaired driving and other driving offences, trafficking in drugs, possession of drugs, aggravated assault, assault causing bodily harm, unlawfully in a dwelling house, break and enter, proceeds of crime, fraud, theft, criminal negligence, sexual assault and partner assault.  She defends individuals who are charged under the Criminal Code of Canada, the Youth Criminal Justice Act, the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, the Cannabis Act and the Provincial Offences Act.

Sarah maintains a diverse criminal law practice that includes criminal jury and judge alone trials, criminal appeals, parole hearings, Ontario Review Board hearings, peace bond hearings, bail hearings, bail reviews and independent legal advice on discrete issues.  Sarah has appeared before all levels of court and tribunals including the Superior Court of Justice, Ontario Court of Justice, Federal Court of Appeal, Court of Quebec, Ontario Review Board, Parole Board of Canada and Parole Board of Ontario.  She has won cases in all manner of proceedings including criminal jury and judge alone trials, on applications under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Stinchcombe, O’Connor and Corbett and on striking down provisions of the Criminal Code for being unconstitutional.

While Sarah’s practice is based out of Ottawa, she represents clients across the province of Ontario.  Sarah charges her clients a block fee or hourly rate that is reasonable and based on a client’s financial means.  She also accepts Legal Aid Ontario certificates in select cases. 

Sarah is an active member of the legal community in Ottawa. She has acted as counsel for both individual protestors and for organizations connected to the Black Lives Matter movement, environmental justice and Indigenous rights. She has delivered presentations on criminal law topics before the Defence Counsel Association of Ottawa. Notably, she presented a paper at the 2020 Defence Counsel Association of Ottawa criminal conference that received the award for best paper by Justice Vincent Clifford. Her paper provided a guide to defence counsel for successfully challenging the constitutionality of the new provocation section of the Criminal Code of Canada which makes it more difficult for those charged with murder to raise this defence. She has acted as counsel for the Canada Border Services Agency training workshop for forensic document examiners. She has also done voluntary work as counsel for the University of Ottawa’s trial advocacy course.

Sarah brings a diverse cultural background to her practice.  She is fluent in Urdu and very familiar with Hindi.  She has lived in several parts of the world including Kuwait, Pakistan and England.  She has also lived and worked across Canada.  She identifies as a progressive Muslim-Canadian. She is a sister to five siblings and in her free time likes to catch up with family and friends, paint and explore the outdoors.