having completed her pupillage and thereby becoming a qualified barrister, saunders began working for lloyd's of london. she joined the newly formed cps in 1986. in 1991, she joined the cps policy division. she was appointed branch crown prosecutor for wood green in 1997, and assistant chief crown prosecutor of cps london south in 1999. she took up the appointment of chief crown prosecutor for sussex in 2001 overseeing the case made against roy whiting, who was convicted of murdering sarah payne. between 2003 and 2005, she served as deputy legal advisor to the attorney general. she then became head of prosecutions for the organised crime division of the cps. she was the chief crown prosecutor for cps london from 2009 until 2013. during that time, she was involved in the 2011 to 2012 retrial, and subsequent conviction, of the killers of stephen lawrence.