Following a fair and open competition, the U.K. Serious Fraud Office named Sara Lawson QC as its new general counsel, effective 1 May 2019. Lawson replaces Alun Milford, who left the post late last year for Kingsley Napley after six years with the SFO.

Formerly of Red Lion Chambers, Lawson is a barrister with extensive experience prosecuting government, criminal, and regulatory cases. Prior to taking Silk in 2017, she worked for the Insolvency Service as standing counsel and as member of the Government Regulatory A List, prosecuted on behalf of the Health & Safety Executive, the Office of Rail & Road, and the Environment Agency.

As general counsel, Lawson will provide oversight, advice, and quality control on SFO cases and preparations for trials.

Lawson previously acted for the SFO as first junior counsel in the £70m (U.S. $91 million) Revell-Reade boiler room fraud cases, one of the largest boiler room frauds ever pursued by a U.K. authority. Those cases resulted in nine defendants being convicted and receiving prison sentences totalling almost 50 years.

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