Sarah Wood

Practice Areas

Financial Crime, Money Laundering, Asset Forfeiture, Confiscation, Financial Remedies (family); Private prosecutions

Career

Sarah particularly specialises in criminal and family matters involving high-value assets and complex financial arrangements. She is one of a handful of barristers with extensive experience of cases where there are contemporaneous family financial remedy proceedings and criminal POCA claims. She has the knowledge and understanding to advise and represent clients in both sets of proceedings and provides practical realistic advice. Sarah frequently appears in both the High Court and the Family Court in this area of work and is regularly instructed to act on behalf of either a party or the CPS as the intervener in the proceedings because of her detailed knowledge of all related aspects of confiscation work.

Sarah also specialises in the civil aspects of POCA work, including Account Freezing and Forfeiture applications, Cash Forfeiture and UWOs. Regularly instructed by the NCA and HMRC in respect of these applications, she also has extensive experience of representing individuals facing applications of this nature.

Sarah is joint Head of the Business Crime & Financial Regulation Practice Group within 5 St Andrew’s Hill and is regularly instructed to prosecute and defend complex private prosecutions.

She is known for her attention to detail, work ethic and ability to find a practical solution to a problem.

Professional Memberships

FLA, POCLA, FLBA.

Publications

Financial remedies v confiscation proceedings: what takes priority? [2019] FAM LAW 941

What happens when assets are tainted: financial remedies v confiscation proceedings revisited [2021 FAM LAW 1064