Sara A. Lima

Sara represents clients in the telecommunications, aerospace, government contracts, manufacturing, retail, financial services, and other industries. She is a member of the firm’s cross-practice Retail & Consumer Goods Group, with a primary focus on advising restaurant, food service, and consumer goods clients. Sara also advises third-party administrators, transfer agents, and passthrough entities. Though she is very often successful in resolving complex issues out of court, Sara is a capable and experienced litigator. She is admitted to state and federal courts in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, as well as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court, where she has acted as lead counsel for amici in two cases. She has developed strong relationships with state government officials around the country, including in Delaware, Florida, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, Michigan, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Texas.

Sara is highly regarded for her legal work and expertise in the unclaimed property arena. She frequently speaks at national conferences and has written for Tax Notes and Bloomberg. Her work before the Uniform Law Commission and Delaware Senate Unclaimed Property Task Force on behalf of the Unclaimed Property Professionals Organization (UPPO) earned Reed Smith the 2015 and 2016 UPPO Awards of Merit, and earned Sara the 2017 UPPO Shining Star award. Sara received the UPPO Shining Star award again in 2020 for her work on the Government Relations Advocacy Committee, which she co-chaired from 2017 to 2019. (The Shining Star award is issued by UPPO and a description of the selection methodology can be found at uppo.org. No aspect of this advertisement has been approved by the Supreme Court of New Jersey.)

In addition to her unclaimed property work, Sara is actively involved with Reed Smith’s Women’s Initiative Network (WINRS) and mentors several younger attorneys. Sara has historically focused her pro bono activities on assisting refugees, especially children. She served on the working board of the Philadelphia-based Nationalities Services Center and has represented minors from Togo, Ivory Coast, Sudan, and Haiti, while also mentoring associates taking on similar matters.