Precision strategy for high-stakes conflict.

Every so often, Sarah Elizabeth Spencer steps away from the practice of law for something more hands-on. This weekend she and her family put on lab coats and safety goggles for ScienceFest, the new two-day festival at the Natural History Museum of Utah on the University of Utah campus. Between live chemistry demonstrations, hands-on activities, and conversations with the museum’s scientists, the kids had plenty of questions, and it turns out the habit of not stopping at the first answer runs in the family.

In Medical Marijuana, Inc. v. Horn, No. 23-365 (U.S. Apr. 2, 2025), Justice Kavanaugh’s dissent, joined by Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Alito, cites the merits-stage amicus brief that Sarah Elizabeth Spencer authored as counsel of record for the DRI Center for Law and Public Policy and the Atlantic Legal Foundation. The dissent warned that the plaintiff’s reading of civil RICO “would likely produce significant cascading effects on the American economy and federal and state court systems,” and it pointed to the brief for that conclusion: “In short, the effects of Horn’s rule would likely be dramatic, as Medical Marijuana and its amici explain.” Slip op. at 23 (Kavanaugh, J., dissenting) (citing the brief at 20–22). The cited pages address litigation financing, nuclear verdicts, social inflation, and the effect of treble-damages exposure on product innovation. Lawrence S. Ebner of the Atlantic Legal Foundation joined the brief.

Sarah Elizabeth Spencer authored the Atlantic Legal Foundation’s amicus brief supporting the petitions for certiorari in Charter Consolidated, Ltd. v. Cape Intermediate Holdings Limited and Altrad Investment Authority S.A.S. v. Cape Intermediate Holdings Limited, on review from the Supreme Court of South Carolina. South Carolina’s asbestos court appointed a private attorney as receiver over Cape, an English company, and empowered him to make its litigation decisions, including a third-party complaint against the petitioners. The brief argues that this is not an asbestos case: it asks whether one state’s court can take control of a solvent corporation chartered somewhere else. For more than 170 years, the Supreme Court has held that a receiver’s authority stops at the border of the court that appointed him, and the limit is a constitutional allocation of authority among sovereigns that only the Supreme Court can enforce. The same trial court has imposed receiverships on 24 asbestos defendants, 16 of them incorporated outside South Carolina. Lawrence S. Ebner is counsel of record. On October 27, 2026, the Court requested a response to the petitions.

At its board meeting on October 2, 2026, the Atlantic Legal Foundation’s Board of Directors confirmed Sarah Elizabeth Spencer as Vice President, appointing her an officer of the Foundation. Ms. Spencer joined ALF in July 2026 as Associate General Counsel, a role in which she works alongside Executive Vice President & General Counsel Lawrence S. Ebner on ALF’s amicus curiae program. At the meeting, she briefed the board on the Foundation’s recent and pending amicus work. Founded in 1977, ALF is a nonprofit, nonpartisan public-interest law firm whose amicus advocacy reaches the U.S. Supreme Court, the federal courts of appeals, and state appellate courts nationwide.

SpencerWillson, PLLC is thrilled to announce that Kirsten L. Taylor, who joined the firm as a law clerk at the end of her second year of law school, has passed the Utah Bar Examination. Kirsten will be sworn in as a member of the Utah State Bar on October 13, 2026. Her research, drafting, and case-management work has been part of the firm's trial and appellate practice ever since, and the firm looks forward to her continued contributions as a licensed attorney. Congratulations, Kirsten!

Sarah Elizabeth Spencer, who has served as Associate General Counsel of the Atlantic Legal Foundation (ALF) since July 2026, will stand for confirmation as ALF Vice President at the Foundation's annual Board Meeting in September 2026. Separately, ALF will hold a fundraising dinner in Washington, D.C. in March to coincide with its anniversary, and Kirsten L. Taylor is expected to attend that March event on behalf of SpencerWillson, PLLC. Founded in 1977, ALF is a nonpartisan public-interest law firm whose amicus curiae advocacy reaches the U.S. Supreme Court, the federal courts of appeals, and state appellate courts nationwide.

SpencerWillson, PLLC has moved its downtown Salt Lake City office to the 215 + State Building, 215 S. State Street, Suite 700, Salt Lake City, Utah 84111. The new office is a short walk from the Matheson Courthouse and the Utah Business & Chancery Court. Phone and email are unchanged: 801-346-8120 and sarah@spencerwillsonpllc.com.

Sarah Elizabeth Spencer, as counsel of record, authored a brief for the DRI Center for Law & Public Policy and the Illinois Defense Counsel as amici curiae supporting the petition for a writ of certiorari in Mead Johnson & Company, LLC v. Greear, on review from the Illinois Appellate Court, Fifth District. The brief argues that the decision below, which allowed more than 12,500 nationwide infant-formula claims to be aggregated in two Illinois counties, discards the general-jurisdiction rule of Daimler AG v. Bauman and the forum-claim connection required by Bristol-Myers Squibb and Ford Motor Co., creating a state-court substitute for federal multidistrict litigation without the safeguards of 28 U.S.C. § 1407. John M. Fitzgerald of Tabet DiVito & Rothstein LLC joined the brief. On September 1, 2026, the Court requested a response to the petition.

Sarah Elizabeth Spencer authored the Atlantic Legal Foundation’s amicus brief supporting the respondent in Department of Labor v. Sun Valley Orchards, LLC, now before the U.S. Supreme Court on review from the Third Circuit. The brief argues that the Department’s theory—that an employer consents to in-house agency adjudication of monetary penalties by enrolling in the H-2A temporary farmworker program—conflicts with SEC v. Jarkesy, because program enrollment is not the knowing and voluntary consent the Court’s cases require. Lawrence S. Ebner is counsel of record. Oral argument is set for November 10, 2026.

SpencerWillson, PLLC is honored to announce that Sarah Elizabeth Spencer has been appointed Associate General Counsel of the Atlantic Legal Foundation (ALF), effective July 1, 2026. Founded in 1977, ALF is a nationally respected, nonpartisan public-interest law firm whose amicus curiae briefs are regularly relied upon in consequential cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, federal courts of appeals, and state appellate courts. Guided by a distinguished Board of Directors and Advisory Council under Chairman & President Hayward "Dan" Fisk, and working alongside Executive Vice President & General Counsel Lawrence S. Ebner, Sarah will help lead ALF's amicus program shaping arguments in precedent-setting appellate litigation nationwide. The appointment reflects Sarah's two decades of commercial litigation and appellate experience and her admission before the U.S. Supreme Court and multiple federal circuit courts.

The SpencerWillson team took a spring walk through Temple Square on April 13, 2026, readying for oral argument and clearing the mind. Tulips, blue sky, and a few quiet blocks from the office: the best argument prep is sometimes a walk. The clip is silent.

The day after the Temple Square walk, Sarah Elizabeth Spencer was in Coalville at the historic Summit County Courthouse. Sandstone walls, arched windows, a miner and his ore cart out front, and a blue Utah sky. Some of the best courtrooms in the state are the oldest ones.

Early March 2026 took the firm to Denver for a court appearance, then home to Salt Lake City to prepare for an appearance in the United States District Court for the District of Utah. The federal courthouse at golden hour is a good reminder of why the preparation matters. Clear head, clean argument. The clip is silent.

In Sone v. Heath, No. 2025CV30119 (Mesa County District Court, Colorado), neighbors sued Jed Siegesmund, an attorney and the vice president of their homeowners’ association board, for private nuisance. The claim rested on what he said at HOA meetings and his advocacy of the association’s position in a dispute over use of a driveway leading to a community irrigation pond. Sarah Elizabeth Spencer filed a special motion to dismiss under Colorado’s anti-SLAPP statute, C.R.S. § 13-20-1101, arguing that the claim arose from protected speech and petitioning on a community issue, along with a Rule 12(b)(5) motion arguing that the complaint did not plead the elements of private nuisance. Within days, the Colorado Supreme Court decided Lind-Barnett v. Tender Care Veterinary Center, Inc., 2025 CO 62, adopting a two-step test for when speech concerns a public issue and holding that a speaker’s motive is irrelevant to that question. The plaintiffs then voluntarily dismissed their claim against Mr. Siegesmund, telling the court that they did so because of their revised position on the anti-SLAPP motion after reviewing it and the new decision. On January 2, 2026, the court dismissed the claim against him and ruled his motions moot. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.

The U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari in Flowers Foods, Inc. v. Brock (No. 24-935), addressing whether local delivery workers who handle goods that traveled in interstate commerce—but do not cross state lines—qualify as “transportation workers” under Section 1 of the Federal Arbitration Act. Sarah Elizabeth Spencer (counsel of record) and Lawrence S. Ebner co-authored an amicus brief for the DRI Center for Law & Public Policy and the Atlantic Legal Foundation; Ms. Spencer authored the sole amicus brief with Mr. Ebner. Merits briefing will proceed in the coming months.

Sarah Elizabeth Spencer attended the Atlantic Legal Foundation’s 35th Annual Awards Dinner at the Junior League of Houston on October 10, 2025. The Foundation presented its 2025 Annual Award to Darren W. Woods, Chairman and CEO of ExxonMobil, who spoke on “Energy, Enterprise, and the Law: A CEO’s Perspective” in an on-stage conversation with ExxonMobil General Counsel Jeffrey A. Taylor. ALF Chairman and President Hayward “Dan” Fisk presented the award, a bronze of Frederic Remington’s Coming Through the Rye. SpencerWillson has authored amicus briefs for ALF in the U.S. Supreme Court since 2023, and Ms. Spencer joined the Foundation as Associate General Counsel in July 2026.

Sarah Elizabeth Spencer, Founder & Managing Attorney of SpencerWillson, PLLC, was recognized in the 2026 (32nd) edition of The Best Lawyers in America® for Commercial Litigation and Product Liability Litigation – Defendants. Selections are entirely peer-reviewed and not pay-to-play, reflecting broad confidence in Ms. Spencer’s skill and results.

The firm filed a declaratory-judgment action contending that Utah’s medical malpractice contingency-fee cap is unconstitutional and undermines access to justice.

Sarah Elizabeth Spencer and Reese Willson attended DRI’s 2024 Appellate Advocacy Seminar at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, November 6–8, 2024. The seminar is the annual gathering of DRI’s Appellate Advocacy Committee, which Ms. Spencer chaired from 2021 to 2024 and where she has been a committee member since 2008. She presented at the 2022 seminar on the preservation rule.

Sarah Elizabeth Spencer and Reese Willson attended DRI’s 2024 Annual Meeting in Seattle, October 16–18, 2024. DRI is the country’s largest association of civil defense attorneys and in-house counsel. Ms. Spencer is the outgoing chair of its Appellate Advocacy Committee and a member of the DRI Center for Law and Public Policy’s Amicus Committee, for which SpencerWillson authors U.S. Supreme Court amicus briefs.