Leigh Day

International personal injury and human rights

Partner

Sapna is a partner with over 20 years’ litigation experience, specialising in international personal injury and human rights claims.  She has a reputation for bringing ground-breaking cases, raising novel points of law, often against HM Government. In October 2019 she won the Law Society’s Excellence Award for Human Rights Solicitor of the Year – the judges found that she had “proven herself to be a model for young lawyers, fighting fearlessly against huge odds” and were “impressed by her outstanding dedication, commitment and perseverance.” Her cases resulted in 3 milestone Supreme Court judgments in 2017 concerning the constitutional role of the courts and issues of public international law in cross-border disputes involving HMG. Her case of  Belhaj & Anor v Jack Straw & Ors concluded in May 2018 with an unreserved apology from the British Prime Minister to her clients, while in a landmark judgment in 2017, her clients in the Iraqi Civilian Litigation v MoD, were found to have been subjected to  breaches of the Geneva Conventions and/or the ECHR. In 2021 she negotiated a settlement of £2.3m on behalf of 36 Malawian women who alleged they had been the victims of sexual assault and harassment while working on tea and nut plantations for a Malawian subsidiary of UK-based Camellia Plc.

Lawyers Advisory Committee of Peace Brigades International.