Sarah Aleem
Corporate transactions, governance and investment
- Experience
- 24 years
- Practice areas
- Languages
- English, Urdu, Arabic
- Contact
- s.aleem@salawassociates.com
Sarah Aleem founded SALAW Associates in 2004 after seven years in the corporate group of a regional full-service firm. The practice began with three lawyers and a conviction that mid-market companies were being served either expensively or badly, and rarely well. That positioning has not changed as the firm has grown.
Sarah's own practice covers the corporate transaction cycle — investment rounds, acquisitions, group reorganisations and exits — with a particular concentration in founder-led and family-owned businesses, where the legal question and the human question are usually the same question. She has closed transactions across manufacturing, healthcare, logistics, financial services and technology.
A significant part of her work is preventative. Sarah sits as standing counsel to several boards, which means she is in the room when decisions are taken rather than asked to defend them afterwards. Clients tend to describe this as the most valuable thing the firm does for them, and it is also the least visible.
Within the firm, Sarah is responsible for professional standards and for the associate development programme. She reviews every conflict check personally, a practice she has kept since the firm had four people.
Education & qualifications
- LL.M., Corporate & Financial Law
- LL.B. (Hons), First Class
- Admitted to the Bar, 2001
- Certified Corporate Governance Professional
Professional experience
- 2004 – Present
Founding Partner, SALAW Associates
Leads the corporate and commercial practice; chairs the firm's partnership and standards committee.
- 1997 – 2004
Senior Associate, corporate group
Acted on cross-border acquisitions, joint ventures and secured lending for institutional clients.
- 2001
Called to the Bar
Admitted to practise before the High Court.
Notable achievements
- Led the firm from three lawyers to a forty-person practice across four groups
- Advised on more than 180 completed corporate transactions
- Recognised in independent directories for corporate and M&A work in each of the last nine years
- Established the firm's pro bono programme, now committing 5% of chargeable hours annually
Publications
- "Governance in Founder-Led Companies: Where Shareholders' Agreements Fail" — Corporate Law Review
- "Warranty and Indemnity Practice in Mid-Market Acquisitions" — annual practitioners' conference paper
Memberships
- Bar Council — Corporate Law Committee
- International Bar Association
- Institute of Corporate Secretaries — Fellow
Other attorneys you may work with.
Speak with Sarah.
Name them in your enquiry and it will be routed directly. Every enquiry is acknowledged within one business day.
- Direct line
- +1 (212) 555-0142
- Response time
- Every enquiry acknowledged within one business day.