Areas of Practice:

• Employment
• Personal Injury
• Direct Public Access
• Personal Injury
• Clinical Negligence
• Professional Negligence
• Property

Education:

• Christ Church, Oxford BA (Hons)

Appointments:

• Recorder (Civil, appointed 2022)

Quotations from Legal 500:

Recommended by Legal 500 as a leading junior (personal injury) since 2016

“Laura is a formidable advocate, and leaves no stone unturned when representing the interests of her clients."

“Laura is passionate in representing her clients, incredibly knowledgeable with an ability to think on her feet."

“A strong advocate who like to get into the tough issues and tackle them head on - she adds value to any legal team."

"She has a brain the size of a planet which can be turned to almost anything and is utterly fearless. Her attention to detail is fantastic and it is evident she cares tremendously about the clients."

"She is not willing simply to follow the law, but challenge it if it means getting the most for her clients."

"She is renowned for understanding complex losses in serious injury cases."

"She unravels problems in ways you thought not possible."

"She has an excellent approach to cases, and fights hard for the maximum award."

Experience:

Laura is an experienced trial advocate. Within her specialist areas of practice she has been instructed to appear in the High Court and the County Court (personal injury and clinicial negligence); the High Court (including the Technology and Construction Court), the County Court, the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal and the Rent Assessment Committee, and before the Land Registry Adjudicator (property); the Employment Tribunal, the Employment Appeal Tribunal and the High Court (employment).

Laura has appellate advocacy experience including the Privy Council and the Court of Appeal, where she has conducted permission hearings and substantive appeals. She has also been led in the Privy Council and in the Court of Appeal.

Laura regularly represents clients at settlement meetings and mediations.

Personal Injury:

Claimant work, including:

• catastrophic brain injury claims
• spinal injury
• cases involving substantial future loss of earnings based on the Ogden tables A to D
• claims by military and private security personnel, including training injuries and cold injuries
• chronic pain cases
• accidents at work, in particular claims where there is an employment law overlap (see above)
• harassment and bullying claims, especially in the workplace
• road traffic accidents
• fatal accidents
• historic abuse claims
• limitation issues

Clinical negligence:

Claimant work, including:

• negligence during surgery and/or inadequate care following surgery, causing complications with long term consequences
• birth injuries
• delayed diagnosis of cancer with an adverse impact on prognosis
• failure to diagnose/treat compartment syndrome
• delayed diagnosis of syringomyelia
• negligent treatment of carpal tunnel syndrome
• post-surgical development of DVT

Laura is regularly instructed in substantial personal injury and clinical negligence claims as sole counsel and is also instructed as a junior in very large claims. She has specific expertise and experience in dealing with claims (typically running into six or seven figures) where the Claimant has a disability as a result of an accident or other injury or clinical negligence but has or may have some residual earning capacity. She is experienced in dealing with forensic accountancy evidence in claims with complex loss of earnings/loss of investment opportunities. She regularly deals with claims involving multiple experts on both sides. She is frequently instructed at an early stage and involved throughout the life of claims which can take several years to resolve. She is also happy to accept urgent instructions when circumstances require this.

Employment:

Extensive experience in the Employment Tribunal and experience in the Employment Appeal Tribunal, representing both employers and employees in a wide range of employment disputes including:

• unfair and constructive dismissal cases
• sex, race and disability discrimination claims
• wage disputes including holiday pay
• other contractual disputes
• equal pay claims
• restrictive covenants

Laura has a particular expertise in the overlap between employment and personal injury claims, for example in relation to accidents at work, disability discrimination, harassment and stress at work claims. She has conducted a number of cases involving both areas of law.

Property / Landlord and Tenant / Professional Negligence:

Experience across a wide range of commercial and residential property and landlord and tenant work including the following:

• business tenancies including renewals and forfeitures
• construction of leases
• easements, covenants, rights of way and boundary disputes
• mortgages
• constructive trusts
• Party Wall Act disputes (including urgent injunction applications where necessary)
• agricultural tenancies
• adverse possession
• disrepair (sometimes including related personal injury claims)
• residential tenancies, including nuisance related injunctions and evictions
• rent and housing benefit issues
• leasehold enfranchisement and lease extensions
• service charge disputes
• professional negligence claims arising from property law issues

Reported Cases:

Privy Council

Bundhoo v Mauritius
Privy Council (Mauritius), 25 April 2007
(civil procedure, sale of land by judicial auction)

Daby v Mauritius
Privy Council (Mauritius), 13 October 2008
(nuisance, measure of damages, water law, civil procedure)

Court of Appeal

Winter v Traditional & Contemporary Contracts Ltd Court of Appeal (Civil Division), 20 December 2006
(costs in the Lands Tribunal)
[2006] EWCA Civ 1740; [2007] 2 All E.R. 343; [2007] R.V.R. 122; [2007] 3 E.G. 124 (C.S.)

Winter v Traditional & Contemporary Contracts Ltd Court of Appeal (Civil Division), 07 November 2007
(restrictive covenants affecting freehold land, compensation, loss of amenity)
[2007] EWCA Civ 1088; [2008] 1 E.G.L.R. 80; [2008] 3 E.G. 180; [2007] R.V.R. 353; [2008] J.P.L. 1011; [2007] 46 E.G. 177 (C.S.); (2007) 104(45) L.S.G. 30; [2007] N.P.C. 117

Raja v Van Hoogstraten (Application to Strike Out) Court of Appeal (Civil Division), 21 July 2004
(strike out, civil procedure, right to fair trial)
[2004] EWCA Civ 968; [2004] 4 All E.R. 793; [2005] C.P. Rep. 6; Times, July 27, 2004; Independent, July 27, 2004

Zarb v Parry Court of Appeal (Civil Division), 15 November 2011 (adverse possession, boundaries, reasonable belief) [2011] EWCA Civ 1306; [2012] 1 W.L.R. 1240; [2012] 2 All E.R. 320; [2012] 1 P. & C.R. 10; [2012] 1 E.G.L.R. 1; [2012] 3 E.G. 88; [2011] 47 E.G. 105 (C.S.); (2011) 161 N.L.J. 1633; (2011) 155(44) S.J.L.B. 31; [2011] N.P.C. 118

Billett v Ministry of Defence [2015] EWCA Civ 773; [2016] PIQR 1
(cold injuries, Ogden 7 reduction factors, disability, personal injury)

High Court

Billett v Ministry of Defence Queen's Bench Division, 5th September 2014
(cold injuries, Ogden 7 reduction factors, disability, personal injury)
[2014] EWHC 3060 (QB)

Davidson v Aegis Defence Services (BVI) Ltd Queen's Bench Division, 24 January 2013 (limitation, extension of time, personal injury) [2013] EWHC 590 (QB) (on appeal at Davidson v Aegis Defences Services (BVI) Ltd [2013] EWCA Civ 1586)

Employment Appeal Tribunal

Mehmet (t/a Rose Hotel Group) v Aduma
Employment Appeal Tribunal, 30 May 2007
(race discrimination, unauthorised deductions from wages)

Premium Care Homes Ltd v Osborne
Employment Appeal Tribunal, 01 September 2006
(procedure, non-compliance, striking out)

Memberships:

• Housing Law Practitioners Association.
• Association of Personal Injury Lawyers.
• Employment Law Bar Association.
• Amnesty International.