A specialist media litigator with over 17 years of experience, Laura advises on all aspects of social media, internet and media law including defamation, privacy, breach of confidence, reputation management, intellectual property, harassment, breach of contract and data protection. She is a solicitor-advocate with Higher Rights of Audience (all Civil Courts).

Following her degree Law in Law with German Law at University College London and the University of Cologne, Laura qualified as a solicitor at leading defamation law firm Carter-Ruck in 2003. Her career progressed at several boutique London media law firms where she acted for a broad range of high-profile clients including celebrities, politicians, charities, publishers, newspapers and broadcasters. Laura later worked as a Programme Lawyer at Channel 4 Television Corporation. In 2014 she moved to Cornwall as a senior litigation and media lawyer for Cornwall Council, before joining Parnalls Solicitors in 2018 to lead the new Social Media, Internet and Media Law department, NetRights.

Laura has acted in complex and high-profile defamation and privacy claims including obtaining injunctions on behalf of celebrity clients and pursuing libel claims for prominent individuals, politicians and companies. She has conducted highly publicised litigation including acting for Channel 4 in defence of a libel claim over a documentary about Michael Jackson’s family (which settled upon the Claimant’s discontinuance on the eve of trial) and assisting with the successful defence of an age discrimination claim brought by horse racing pundit John McCririck.

Laura has represented Harrods Limited in a breach of confidence claim against Times Newspapers Limited, has brought a successful editorial standards complaint to the BBC and has successfully negotiated the non-publication of many threatened damaging articles on behalf of clients. Laura has also advised numerous individuals, companies and organisations who have been the subject of social media abuse and she has helped many organisations to minimise the risks of social media.

With significant experience of protecting intellectual property rights, both online and elsewhere, Laura has acted regularly for the rights holder of a major international brand portfolio to protect its famous characters and brands internationally. She has also conducted copyright infringement claims, acted for clients in domain name disputes and represented a world-famous rock band in merchandise art work disputes. Laura has advised regularly on breach of contract disputes and litigation.

For many years Laura has provided content clearance advice to national broadcasters and publishers in respect of newspaper and magazine articles, books, plays and television programmes as well as online content, as well as advising Channel 4 and Global Witness NGO on investigative journalism.