Sarah has worked in the competition and consumer law space for over 20 years, advising various fast moving consumer goods companies over this time on a wide range of legal and regulatory issues.
Sarah is a solutions-oriented lawyer who enjoys working with clients to provide them with practical legal advice so they can run their businesses within the limits of the law. She values building connections with people and really understanding her clients’ businesses.
Sarah advises on anti-competitive conduct and the impact of competition law on commercial activities like distribution and supply chain arrangements, exclusivity provisions, joint venture/collaboration agreements and intellectual property licensing arrangements.
Sarah also advises on merger clearances and provides related competition law structuring advice, setting up information sharing protocols to manage the flow of information between parties to minimise the risks of gun jumping prior to the close of deals. She has successfully obtained merger clearances for various large domestic transactions across a number of different consumer goods industries.
Sarah advises suppliers and manufacturers on consumer law issues including misleading and deceptive conduct, consumer guarantees, unfair contract terms, advertising and marketing sign-offs and general compliance with the Australian Consumer Law. She also advises on product recalls, working with clients to help them manage the legal issues that arise in this context and liaising with the responsible regulator.
Sarah represents clients in dealings with the ACCC including investigations and enforcement actions and her strong advocacy and solutions-based approach has led to great outcomes for clients in adversarial and cooperative contexts.
Bega Cheese Limited – obtained merger clearance from the ACCC, and provided competition law structuring advice, on all its transactions including in 2023 in its acquisition of the Betta Milk and Meander Valley Dairy brands from TasFoods Group Limited, 2020 in relation to its $534 million acquisition of Lion Dairy & Drinks, owners of the Dairy Farmers, Yoplait, Big M, Masters and Dare and Farmers Union iced coffee brands, 2018 in relation to its $250 million acquisition of Saputo’s Koroit processing facility and 2017 in relation to its $460 million acquisition of various assets from Mondelēz Australia including the Vegemite and Kraft peanut butter brands.
represented Bega Cheese in 2017 in responding to a compulsory notice issued by the ACCC as part of the Federal Government’s then inquiry into the dairy industry in Australia.
from 2016 to date, conducted comprehensive and in-depth cartel conduct and resale price maintenance audits for a key client of the firm over multiple years as part of the client’s compliance initiatives and to assist the client in determining the level of competition law risk exposure within their sales team.
advised TCCC on the competition law/merger clearance aspects of transactions in Australia including in the 2023 and 2022 acquisitions of various non-alcoholic drink brands in Australia, New Zealand and Fiji, including Mount Franklin, Deep Springs, L&P and Kirks from its bottling partner, Coca-Cola Europacific Partners, 2021 sale of its 45% interest, together with its bottler, then known as Coca-Cola Amatil, in the Made Group of Companies (owners of the Cocobella, Rokeby Farms, Impressed Juice and Nutrient Water brands), and 2018 acquisition of its 45% interest in the Made Group of Companies, together with Coca-Cola Amatil.
advised on numerous data supply arrangements and joint enterprises to ensure regulatory compliance.
designing, developing and then providing training to many different clients in many different industries on Competition and Consumer law.
in 2023, advised CSD on an ACCC investigation in relation to CSD’s agency agreements which the ACCC considered to have a potential anti-competitive effect in certain markets.
in 2022, advised DMFC on the re-authorisation of their back-to-back milk purchasing policies and pricing arrangements with DFMC farmer members and Bega, which involved liaising with and lodging a detailed submission with the ACCC’s Competition Exemptions team. This led to a favourable outcome being achieved for DFMC, with the ACCC agreeing to grant a further authorisation of these arrangements for 10 years.
completed an in-depth competition law review in 2022, 2021 and 2020 for a key client in relation to an exclusivity restraint and its rollover in a core commercial supply agreement with a retailer. This involved an assessment of the purpose and effect of the restraint on competition in various FMCG markets which amongst other things required an analysis of market scan data and consumer behaviour data.
advised an FMCG client on a local subsidiary’s proposed involvement in a global buying consortium. This involved a complex analysis of various legal and practical issues to assess the competition law risks.
advised on various advertising and marketing issues including signing off on product labels and providing the in-house legal team with support in relation to various consumer law issues.
in 2019, represented Decathlon in relation to a section 155 notice issued to it by the ACCC, the subsequent ACCC investigation and then proceedings which were commenced by the ACCC against Decathlon arising out of breaches of various mandatory safety standards.
acted as Compliance Auditor to this client to undertake an annual review of an Australian Consumer Law Compliance Program Reebok Australia as ordered by the Federal Court of Australia arising out of proceedings brought against it by the ACCC for false and misleading advertising.
in 2022, advised Sun Bum in relation to the product recall of one of its sunscreen products, which involved working with the client’s US based recall team and local regulatory consultant and liaising with the Therapeutic Goods Administration on all aspects of the recall. This lead to the successful closing-out of the recall within three months.
advised on a number of different commercial supply arrangements and advertising and marketing issues, working closely with the in-house legal team.
from 2016 to date, reviewed and amended standard form contracts of clients from a wide variety of industries for compliance with the unfair contract terms provisions of the Australian Consumer Law.
- Member, Competition Law Discussion Group
- Member, Law Society of NSW
- Member, Law Council of Australia, Business Law Section
- Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Laws (Honours), The University of Sydney