Sabrina is ranked as a Rising Star by Legal 500 and Up and Coming by Chambers & Partners. She practises in all of Chambers’ core practice areas, including financial services, regulatory crime and general consumer law. She undertakes drafting and advisory work and regularly appears in various courts, including at appellate level.
- Financial services & regulated lending
Sabrina regularly represents banks and financial institutions at trial and interim hearings. She advises on and appears in enforceability disputes (including where allegations of ineffective assignment, non-compliant documentation, penalties, lack of capacity, identity fraud and undue influence are made, along with challenges to the regulatory status of financial products and guarantor liability), mis-selling claims (in particular, under s.75 and s.140A CCA in the context of insurance, timeshare products and solar panels), possession claims, return of goods hearings, and authorised push payment fraud claims.
Sabrina assisted Kate Urell in successfully defending arguments that a Tomlin Order under which the appellant owed in excess of £50m provided credit and that the compound interest provisions therein amounted to a penalty (Gertner v CFL Finance Ltd [2020] EWHC 1241 (Ch)). Sabrina subsequently drafted (with Kate Urell) the application for permission to appeal to the Supreme Court. She has also assisted Jonathan Kirk KC in a multi-million pound pensions mis-selling claim involving allegations of joint enterprise, breach of COBS and claims under s.27 of FSMA.
Sabrina has experience of reviewing loan books for FCA compliance, drafting loan agreements and the required surrounding documentation, and reviewing financial promotions. Having been seconded twice to the FCA, Sabrina is particularly well placed to advise on matters arising from compliance with the FCA Handbook.
- Commercial litigation
Sabrina undertakes a wide range of general commercial work from pure contractual disputes through to bankruptcy and professional negligence claims. Recent instructions include:
- successfully opposing an interim injunction sought in the High Court to prevent a credit reference agency from including allegedly inaccurate information on the applicant’s credit file
- pleading a complex professional negligence claim brought by a lender against a valuer
- defending a claim of frustration brought as a result of the pandemic
- advising on a Land Registry rectification claim
- pleading a claim in conversion against a car dealer who had purchased a vehicle from a hirer under a hire purchase agreement
- Trading standards & regulatory crime
Sabrina prosecutes and defends, both as sole counsel and led, a range of regulatory offences, from pre-charge advice through to trial. Recent work includes:
- prosecuting fourteen defendants accused of engaging in a model agency fraud worth in excess of £13m (led by Jonathan Kirk KC and Cameron Crowe). This included appearing in the leading case on the power of local weights and measures authorities to prosecute out of area (R v AUH [2022] EWCA Crim 1113)
- prosecuting ten door-to-door fish salesmen for fraudulent trading and CPUT offences across eight separate prosecutions (see NTS and press coverage) (led by Jonathan Goulding/Cameron Crowe)
- prosecuting tobacco product suppliers for breach of labelling and trademark requirements
- prosecuting four estate agents for money laundering offences (led by Cameron Crowe)
- defending an age restricted product prosecution
- defending a butcher prosecuted for hygiene offences
- defending three directors prosecuted for failing to file company accounts
Sabrina regularly advises on food labelling issues (especially where health and/or nutritional claims are made), the Primary Authority Scheme, non-compliance with improvement notices, the imposition of closure notices/orders in the context of Covid-19, alcohol and tobacco licences and civil complaints regarding dangerous dogs.
Sabrina delivers seminars across the spectrum of her work, including to CTSI.
- General consumer
Sabrina has a broad experience of other consumer matters, including:
- Civil redress under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008
- The right to reject goods under the Consumer Rights Act 2015
- Unfair contract terms
- Civil aviation matters
- Privacy notices
- Bankruptcy petitions
- Investigations by the Gambling Commission
- Events
- News
New Article on Covid-19 scams and how to tackle them
March 26, 2020New Article on Use-By Dates
July 31, 2020PLC May: Scope of “deemed agency” in context of CCA unfair relationship claims
June 30, 2023Sabrina Goodchild appointed to the Attorney General’s London Panel
August 1, 2023Chambers & Partners ranks Gough Square as Number 1 for Consumer Law
November 3, 2023PLC April 2024: Effect of defective business purpose declarations
April 19, 2024 - Directory Quotes
- “Sabrina is someone who punches above her call. She is someone you can trust to handle difficult matters.” Chambers & Partners, 2024
- “She communicates well, provides advice promptly and is happy to talk outside formal settings.” Chambers & Partners, 2024
- “Sabrina’s attention to detail is amazing. The depth of her knowledge is clear when settling some very complex statements of case” Legal 500 2023
- Publications
Financial Services
- Contributing editor to The Encyclopedia of Financial Services Law, loose leaf, Sweet & Maxwell
- Regular contributor to Chambers’ monthly consumer credit column for Practical Law
Consumer and Regulatory
- Contributing editor to Consumer and Trading Standards: Law and Practice (‘the Pink Book’), 6th – 9th Editions, Lexis Nexis
- General Editor to Consumer and Trading Law Cases law reports (2018 – 2020)
- Education, qualifications, memberships
During her training, Sabrina was awarded scholarships for the Graduate Diploma in Law from City University and for the Bar Professional Training Course from BPP London. She also won the 2018 Inner Temple Davis Prize for pupils advocacy, was a member of the winning team in the national round of the Telders International Law Moot Court Competition 2016 and went on to represent England at the international finals in The Hague, and was runner-up in the 2016/17 Times/2TG moot.
Sabrina undertakes pro bono work for Advocate (formerly the Bar Pro Bono Unit) and is an advocacy trainer for Inner Temple.
- Financial Services Lawyers Association
- Called Inner Temple 2017
- Philosophy, Politics and Economics, Oxford University
- Graduate Diploma in Law, City University (Distinction)
- Education and Hobbies
During her training, Sabrina was awarded scholarships for the Graduate Diploma in Law from City University and for the Bar Professional Training Course from BPP London. She also won the 2018 Inner Temple Davis Prize for pupils advocacy, was a member of the winning team in the national round of the Telders International Law Moot Court Competition 2016 and went on to represent England at the international finals in The Hague, and was runner-up in the 2016/17 Times/2TG moot.
Sabrina undertakes pro bono work for Advocate (formerly the Bar Pro Bono Unit) and is an advocacy trainer for Inner Temple.
Outside the law, Sabrina enjoys playing squash and swimming.
- Privacy Notice
Who I am
I am a specialist consumer law barrister providing legal services at Gough Square Chambers. You can contact me at sabrina.goodchild@goughsq.co.uk, on 0207 353 0924 or at Gough Square Chambers, 6-7 Gough Square, London EC4A 3DE.
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