Sonia studied law at St. Catharine’s College, Cambridge. She is a commercially aware litigator who is client focused at all stages of litigation and alternative dispute resolution. She acts for a range of clients from private individuals to large corporate bodies both in the UK and abroad. Sonia has experience in bringing proceedings in the High Court, Court of Appeal, and under a variety of institutional arbitration rules.

Recent significant cases include:

• Glover v Barker [2020] EWCA Civ 1112 – Acting for the Appellant, Ms Glover, we successfully overturned the decision of the High Court that she, the litigation friend of two child Defendants who were unsuccessful in challenging the terms of an underlying trust dispute, was liable to pay the Claimant’s costs. This decision creates important precedent addressing the costs consequences for the litigation friends of children and protected parties who are defendants to proceedings.

• Langford v The Secretary of State for Defence [2019] EWCA Civ 1271 – Acting for the appellant, Ms Langford, we successfully argued that an exclusionary rule in public sector pension scheme unjustifiably discriminated against the her, in breach of Article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

• Speciality Magnetics Limited v Aglient Technologies UK Limited [2019] EHWC 1781 (Comm) – Sonia successfully supported the response to an application by the Defendant that the claim should be stayed pursuant to s.9 of the Arbitration Act 1996 on the basis of a so-called arbitration clause in the underlying agreement.

• Sonia supported a team acting on behalf of a Russian company in a multi-jurisdictional arbitration dispute in respect of the disputed ownership of a significant Russian bank.

• Finnan v. Finnan – Sonia assisted in a High Court Section 994 unfair prejudice petition involving substantial property assets. The case settled on the third day of trial.

Sonia was awarded Lawyer of the Week in The Times Newspaper on 25 July 2019 and has higher rights of audience.

Email: sbamford@candey.com