Sarah Partridge-Smith

Sarah Partridge-Smith is a Counsel in Dentons' Regulatory and Investigations practice in London, focusing on corporate crime compliance, internal investigations, and financial crime regulation. She is a member of Dentons' Global Compliance and Investigations team.

She advises clients on building and reviewing holistic financial crime frameworks, including anti-money laundering, bribery and corruption, fraud, and Failure to Prevent Fraud compliance. She regularly conducts internal investigations into allegations of employee fraud, whistleblowing, sexual harassment, bribery, and procurement fraud, often involving multiple jurisdictions. She also provides advice and representation to clients in connection with investigations by enforcement and regulatory agencies, including the FCA, HMRC and the CQC.

Prior to joining Dentons, she was a criminal barrister for 10 years, defending serious criminal offences, and subsequently spent five years in the FCA's Enforcement division leading complex investigations across financial crime control failures and non-financial misconduct. She also served as Private Secretary to the FCA's Executive Director of Enforcement.

She holds an LL.B from King's College London (2003), an LL.M in Public International Law from University College London (2005), and completed the Bar Vocational Course at the College of Law (2006). She also holds a Diploma in Anti-Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing and a Post Graduate Diploma in Financial Crime Compliance from the International Compliance Association.

She is recognised by The Legal 500 as a "key lawyer" for Regulatory Investigations, Corporate Crime and Contentious Financial Services, with clients describing her as an "exceptional lawyer and a specialist in her area." She received the inaugural Dentons Pro Bono Award in 2023 for her contributions to pro bono activities.