Laurene acts in the areas of equality law, employment, personal injury and clinical negligence. She also regularly acts as investigator, and provides awareness training to prevent discrimination and harassment at work.

Employment

Laurene acts in the full range of employment claims, including on health and safety at work, pay and conditions, redundancies, working time and collective activities.

She is regularly instructed by large established trade unions, as well as younger unions mobilising precarious sectors.

Laurene has acted in several large group claims. She was one of 3 counsel representing nearly 10,000 claimants in a successful discrimination and victimisation claim, reported by Channel 4.

She has acted in several appeals to the EAT including a collective pay claim for 58 claimants. 

She has experience in equal pay claims including defining work of ‘equal value’, and the material factor defence.

Discrimination

Laurene acts in claims for discrimination in services and housing as well as discrimination at work claims. This includes failure to make adjustments for disabled service users, discriminatory tenancy conditions and unequal access to services.

The majority of Laurene’s clients are people living with disabilities, including invisible disabilities and disabilities made worse by working conditions.

Laurene has particular experience in pregnancy and maternity discrimination, including redundancy after maternity leave. She has written about the gaps in the law to address gender inequality at work, especially for new and expectant mothers.

She also acts for workers, students and members of the public mistreated for expressing a protected political belief and/or exercising their right to freedom of speech and assembly.

Personal injury and clinical negligence

Laurene has acted in multi-track clinical negligence claims including in complex birth cases involving multiple experts where liability is disputed, and claims on behalf of infants with complex future loss calculations.

She also represents and advises workers in personal injury claims against their employer.

Investigations & awareness training

Laurene is regularly instructed as investigator of grievances and allegations of discrimination and whistleblowing in a wide range of organisations from NGOs to universities, trade unions and multinationals.

She also offers bespoke training to assist employers in discharging their duty to actively prevent sexual harassment at work.

Public law

Laurene was on the counsel team of the Infected Blood Inquiry and also undertook work for the Grenfell Tower Inquiry and the Covid-19 inquiry.

MA Politics and Arabic (with Distinction) University of Edinburgh

Graduate Diploma in Law, City, University of London

Bar Professional Training Course with LLM (with Distinction) City, University of London

Bar Human Rights Committee (BHRC)

Constitutional and Administrative Law Association (ALBA)

Discrimination Law Association (DLA)

Employment Lawyers Association (ELA)

Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers

Industrial Law Society (ILS)

Legal Sectors Workers Union (LSWU)

Inner Temple – 2018 BPTC Exhibition Award

Inner Temple – 2017 GDL Exhibition Award

Evan Ashfield Memorial Prize 2018 for best BPTC - FRU result

33 Bedford Row 2018 Prize for best performance in Clinical Legal Practice (City Law School)

University of Edinburgh – 2014 Irene Crawford Prize for best undergraduate in Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies

University of Edinburgh – 2014 Carole Hillenbrand Prize for best undergraduate dissertation in Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies

Laurene loves languages. She’s fluent in French, Arabic and Spanish and is currently enjoying learning Dutch and Farsi.