Laura is a solicitor specialising in prison law, criminal appeals, community care, mental health and public law. She has particular expertise in representing children, young adults and vulnerable people in detention in both penal and mental health settings.

Laura is a Consultant Solicitor at Scott-Moncrieff & Associates Ltd and GT Stewart Solicitors & Advocates.

Laura teaches at South Bank University in the Law department. She was awarded a professional doctorate in youth justice at the University of Bedfordshire in 2014.

Laura is a Board member the Legal Aid Practitioners’ Group and a trustee of Hammersmith and Fulham Law Centre in her capacity as a councillor for the London Borough Hammersmith and Fulham. She is also a trustee of the National Association for Youth Justice.

She is a committee member of the Association of Prison Lawyers, the Mental Health Lawyers’ Association and the Criminal Appeal Lawyers’ Association. She also sits on the Law Society’s Criminal Law Committee.

Laura founded Young Legal Aid Lawyers in 2005 and she received both the 2010 Liberty Human Rights Young Person of the Year award and the 2009 Young Legal Aid Lawyer of the year award on behalf of the group. In 2006 she was named Young Legal Aid Solicitor of the year. In 2012 she was listed by the Guardian as a lawyer to watch. In 2019, Laura was awarded Solicitor of the Year by the First 100 Years’ Inspirational Women in Law Awards. Between 2010 and 2022, she was a trustee of Legal Action Group, and chair between 2017 and 2022.

From 2005 to 2022, Laura worked for the Howard League for Penal Reform and was its legal director between 2016 and 2022. You can listen to her reflections on her work with children and young people in custody in England and Wales during her time at the Howard League here: