Sarah Elizabeth Spencer

Sarah Elizabeth Spencer is an attorney at SpencerWillson, PLLC, in Salt Lake City, Utah. With two decades of trial and appellate experience, she represents clients in complex, high-stakes disputes involving breach of contract, fiduciary duties, corporate governance, fraud, trust and agency conflicts, real property disputes, insurance coverage and bad faith, and other intricate business torts. 

Ms. Spencer has secured major victories, including obtaining summary judgments in significant exposure cases and successfully defending those decisions on appeal. She is a commercial litigator and appellate advocate licensed in Utah and Colorado, with admission rights before the U.S. Supreme Court and multiple federal circuit courts of appeal. 

As an accomplished appellate lawyer, Ms. Spencer has served as lead counsel in dozens of appeals, covering all aspects of appellate litigation. She handles appeals from interlocutory orders, preliminary injunctions and final judgments, as well as immediate appeals in admiralty and Section 1983 qualified immunity cases. She also brings deep trial experience to her appellate practice, adept at managing large evidentiary data sets and distilling complex records into clear, persuasive advocacy. Her approach is rigorously analytical yet client-centered, with a focus on practical, impactful results.

Ms. Spencer’s legal career reflects an early and intense commitment to the profession. She accelerated her education, beginning college at 13, earning her B.A. at 16 and her J.D. at 21, and becoming the youngest graduate of record at both institutions. While at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law, she served as staff editor of the International Law Journal, competed on the ABA traveling trial team, and earned the American Jurisprudence Award for Highest Grade in Advanced Civil Procedure.

Recognized for her leadership in the legal community, Ms. Spencer is the outgoing chair of DRI’s Appellate Advocacy Committee, and also serves on its Amicus Committee and State Legislation and Rules Task Force. Locally, she is an executive committee member of the Utah State Bar Appellate Practice Section and has represented the Utah State Bar Unauthorized Practice of Law Committee in litigation. She regularly writes and speaks on appellate advocacy, ethics and legal writing, reflecting her commitment to excellence in the profession and advancing the law.

For her exceptional work in the legal field, Ms. Spencer has received an AV Preeminent* peer-review rating through Martindale-Hubbell. 

*AV®, AV Preeminent®, Martindale-Hubbell Distinguished and Martindale-Hubbell Notable are certification marks used under license in accordance with the Martindale-Hubbell certification procedures, standards and policies. Martindale-Hubbell® is the facilitator of a peer-review rating process. Ratings reflect the anonymous opinions of members of the bar and the judiciary. Martindale-Hubbell® Peer Review Ratings™ fall into two categories – legal ability and general ethical standards.