Sidley partner Sarah Lainchbury discusses the importance of being organised, the firm’s social mobility initiatives, and how her pet dog has supported her career
“My current work is centred in the Courts,” says Sarah Lainchbury, a commercial litigation and disputes partner in the London office of the global law firm Sidley. With a practice that covers a wide range of corporate and commercial litigation, arbitration and investigations, Sarah explains that “at the moment, more than 80% of my work involves claims in the High Court and the Court of Appeal.” With a current caseload of financial services and banking litigation matters, as well as disputes involving leveraged finance, derivatives and contentious restructurings, it’s clear that Lainchbury enjoys a busy yet varied workload. “Litigation is undoubtedly an intense practice area, because you’re essentially dealing with a crisis. But, for me, being able to frame a strategy and get results for my clients is the draw.”
Lainchbury is a veritable Sidley ‘lifer,’ having trained with the firm back in 2012 and subsequently risen through the ranks to make partner in December 2023. So, I’m keen to dig into what has kept Lainchbury at Sidley for so long. “When I was initially applying, I was looking for a firm with a real international presence, so this naturally drew me towards U.S. headquartered firms in London,” she explains. “I remember that there was a marked difference between Sidley and other firms: not only were the people nice and the environment was noticeably collegiate, but the type of work was clearly high-profile and big-ticket,” Lainchbury says. It was clear to her that as a trainee, she would be able to quickly gain exposure to complex legal work.
“I really enjoyed my litigation seat at the time,” she tells me, reminiscing about her training contract. “I was lucky enough to get involved in a trial straight away which, when I later qualified into litigation, went all the way up to the Court of Appeal.” A keen debater and mooting pro during her university years, Lainchbury also cites advocacy as a huge attraction to contentious practice. “Now, being able to get involved in advocacy as a solicitor-advocate — that remains a huge draw for me.”
With a wealth of insight and experience under her belt, I am keen to find out what it takes to be a commercial litigator. Lainchbury stresses that budding lawyers and juniors keen on contentious practice need to hone their organisational skills to thrive. “A universal skill across all practice areas is time management,” she begins. “But, specifically in litigation, self-organisation is a necessity because you can absolutely bank on being involved in multiple cases at once with competing deadlines.” She tells me that life as an associate was “undeniably busy,” but this provided opportunities to work on “a huge variety of high-profile cases.”
She’s also keen to stress that being a skilful communicator is fundamental in busy litigation teams. “If you’re quiet about your workload and deadlines, this makes it more difficult to sensibly and fairly distribute work. Senior members of litigation teams rely heavily on juniors who are proactive when it comes to communicating,” she adds. And skilful communication is also fundamental when it comes to advocacy. “One of the skills that I use on a daily basis is being able to distil a huge wealth of information into truly key points,” she explains. “By acting as a solicitor-advocate, you quickly learn how to articulate points specifically for judicial consumption, which is a great asset when you’re helping clients to deliver their best points in court.”
“Judges tend to have upfront opinions on what they want to hear and in what order, so you need to be prepared to jump straight from one point to another,” she says. “Solicitor-advocates should always be well-prepared. However, sticking strictly to a plan doesn’t always work out in the courtroom, so I always warn juniors against over-preparation – as strange as that may sound.”
I’m keen to shift the conversation to Sidley’s new and established initiatives aimed at helping aspiring lawyers overcome barriers to entry in the legal industry. The firm pledged £500,000 to a local Youth Hub in 2022, which led to the opening of VYBZ Youth Hub earlier this year. The firm continues to play an active role in working with that community with a variety of touchpoints with young Londoners throughout the year. I ask Lainchbury why social mobility initiatives are important to Sidley. “We’re focusing on widening participation in the law to all, regardless of background,” she begins. “For us, it’s simple. We want to recruit hardworking, clever people and we believe that these qualities are evenly distributed throughout society.” Building a career in City law can feel especially out of reach for those without role models or connections in the profession, Lainchbury explains. At Sidley, expanding opportunities for socially mobile candidates is therefore a “key priority.”
“We have so many social mobility initiatives at the firm, such as our Prime scheme which invites school-age candidates at around 16 or 17 years old to spend time in our London office and experience what it’s like to be a City lawyer or work in a City firm,” says Lainchbury. “It’s fundamental for candidates at this age to be gaining this experience, because it’s an opportunity for them to work in an office and see that there is a huge variety of careers within a law firm, not just practising law.” These candidates can reap the benefits, not just in terms of gaining legal work experience, but also to begin really imagining themselves in these roles, she continues. “These young people get access to the inner workings of the firm, being able to learn what it means to say that a law firm is a business.”
Finally, Lainchbury is keen to highlight Sidley’s £3,500 bursary for undergraduate students from low-income backgrounds. “This is a focus point for the firm, because the reality of widening access to the legal profession means addressing the financial disparity that can act as a barrier to the profession, and Sidley recognises that,” she says.
Rounding off our chat, I am keen to know what advice Lainchbury has for the next generation of lawyers. First, she advises aspiring lawyers to “get yourself a mentor.” They are truly invaluable in terms of direction, advice and acting as a sounding board at all stages of your career, she tells me. “Having a supportive mentor that knows me and knows how I work has been fundamental to my career.” She also suggests “getting a dog,” as she says, smiling, “my dog has been a great supporter of my career.” She explains that staying physically and mentally healthy cannot be understated in this profession — “keeping a balance between work and life is key to long-term success, and my dog definitely helps with that!”
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