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Sarah L. Zimmerman

Sarah L. Zimmerman

Senior Associate
Overview

Sarah’s commercial litigation practice is focused on developing strategies to solve clients’ problems.

Sarah represents clients facing contract disputes, business torts and consumer fraud actions, including those involving statutes such as the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). She assists small and large clients nationwide such as banks, pharmacy benefits managers and air ambulance carriers across several sectors including healthcare and financial services.

Sarah takes the time to understand how each client’s business operates and then makes strategically effective and individualized recommendations. She oversees the day-to-day management of numerous complex cases, developing defense strategies, coordinating offensive and defensive discovery, and preparing dispositive motions in arbitrations and in state and federal courts across the United States.

Passionate about pro bono work, Sarah was part of a team that represented prisoners sentenced to life without parole as juveniles, and assisted in the filing for a writ of certiorari before the U.S. Supreme Court. Sarah’s experience also includes representing victims through Husch Blackwell’s Human Trafficking Clinic, and she prepares applications for asylum seekers.

Industries

Services

Recognition

  • Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch® in America
    • Commercial Litigation, 2021-2025
  • Missouri Bar Pro Bono Wall of Fame, 2016-2021

Education

  • J.D., Washington University in St. Louis School of Law
    • cum laude
      • Global Studies Law Review, Managing Editor 
      • Scholar in Law Award 
      • Order of the Barristers 
      • Dean's List
      • CALI award for Employment Discrimination
  • B.A., The George Washington University
    • magna cum laude
    • International Affairs
      • Dean's List
      • International Development Concentration; Psychology Minor

Admissions

  • Missouri
  • U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Missouri
  • Illinois
  • U.S. District Court, Western District of Missouri

Professional Memberships and Certifications

  • The Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis
  • Missouri Bar Association
2024 Pro Bono Contributor
Experience
  • Assisted in obtaining summary judgment for large pharmacy benefit manager accused of wrongful termination of contract and assisted in successful negotiation of settlement on counterclaim against breaching pharmacy.
  • Won summary judgment in class action lawsuit against Missouri Department of Corrections on behalf of inmates sentenced to life imprisonment as juveniles. Argued on behalf of class regarding constitutional remedies for defendant's violations of class' due process and Eighth Amendment rights.
  • Assisted in obtaining voluntary dismissal of nationwide consumer fraud class action involving air ambulance services following removal to federal court and filing of early summary judgment motion.
  • Obtained multimillion dollar judgment against former network pharmacy after repeated breaches of contract as part of arbitration team.
Outside the Office

Sarah and her husband enjoy travelling and trying new restaurants together. Ellie, their 60-pound Chocolate Lab and lap dog, was named for Ellie’s Brown Ale.

Community Leadership

Among her pro bono and volunteer work, Sarah is an active board member for Caring Solutions, an organization that provides services for individuals with developmental disabilities in connection with the Missouri Department of Mental Health.

  • Caring Solutions, Board of Directors 2018-present
  • Husch Blackwell Human Trafficking Clinic
  • Missouri Civil Rights Coalition, Public Defender Program
NextGen Committee

Sarah serves on the firm’s NextGen committee, which functions as the voice of associates and non-partner attorneys with less than 10 years of experience.

The committee works to create policies and initiatives that positively impact newer attorneys’ careers, encourage their engagement with the firm, and bring their innovations and creativity to senior leadership.

Led by an executive committee, NextGen has four subcommittees which mirror the firm’s C-Suite structure. The leaders of each subcommittee have been paired with their counterpart on the firm’s leadership team. In addition, each office location has one to three designated NextGen representatives, who help keep a pulse on associate issues and plan their own associate social gatherings. NextGen has monthly calls with these representatives to discuss any issues or concerns.

NextGen’s recent successes include a shift in how associate billable equivalent hours are recorded, along with the development of a dashboard that allows associates to easily track these hours by category. The committee also leads the “Next Up” Initiative, which highlights the firm’s next generation of leaders—the ones who are “next up” to lead the firm in the future. The program pairs NextGen committee members with senior leadership mentors at both the executive and individual office level, with meetings held quarterly.

As a dedicated Husch Blackwell attorney who has been at the firm for her entire legal career, associate retention is deeply important to Sarah. The current chair of NextGen’s retention subcommittee, she values serving in a role where she has the opportunity to listen to associate concerns and work with a devoted group of NextGen attorneys to help create policies and ideas that make the firm a place attorneys want to stay.