Sara Anning
Sara has practised exclusively in family law since 1995. She is regularly instructed in serious cases involving physical abuse, child death, fabricated or induced illness, and sexual abuse, often requiring extensive multi-disciplinary medical evidence.
She has particular expertise in adoption and placement matters, including relinquished babies, early permanence, placement orders, and post-placement contact. Sara has appeared in significant cases such as Re T (Early Permanence Placement) [2015] EWCA Civ 983, Re A, B and C (Adoption: Notification of Fathers and Relatives) [2020] EWCA Civ 41, and Re (Assessment of Birth Family) [2021] EWFC 31 and was the appellant in Re S (Placement Order Contact) [2025] EWCA Civ 823, led by Julia Cheetham KC.
Highly experienced in representing vulnerable clients, Sara is trained and approved by the Family Law Bar Association (FLBA) to deliver Vulnerable Witness Advocacy training to fellow practitioners.
Sara was appointed as a First-Tier Tribunal Judge (Mental Health) in 2018 and Recorder on the North Eastern Circuit in 2019. She frequently delivers seminars to legal and social work professionals on developments in family law and court skills. Her article authored with Charlotte Wilce, “Relinquished Babies: Decisions and Long-Term Impact,” was published in Family Law in 2020.