Laura Stephenson has a busy and diverse practice, specialising in inquests and inquiries, professional discipline, crime and tax work.
She is ranked in the Legal 500 as a leading junior in professional discipline. She appears in the High Court, Court of Appeal and Crown Court, as well as a range of professional discipline settings. She is adept at tackling cases involving healthcare professionals and complex medical issues, which often traverse her practice areas.
Laura is a specialist professional discipline advocate. She has a busy defence practice at the MPTS. She also appears on behalf of accountants at a range of regulatory bodies. She prosecutes on behalf of the GOsC, GOC and RICS. Her significant experience in representing medical professionals extends to inquests, where she regularly defends on behalf of doctors, care homes and Trusts. She is a member of the Attorney General’s Civil Panel C and undertakes public law cases.
Laura has extensive working experience of public inquiries and inquests. Laura was recently appointed as Senior Junior counsel to the Covid Inquiry Legal Team (read more about the Inquiry here).
She is instructed as junior counsel in the Infected Blood Inquiry. The Inquiry is examining the infection of NHS patients through the use of infected blood and blood products.
In tax, Laura is instructed on behalf of HMRC to appear at the First-tier Tribunal in her own right and as a led junior. Laura’s experience in these complicated, paper-heavy cases has enhanced her ability to approach complex financial issues across all practice areas with meticulousness and confidence.
Laura has also recently been appointed as an Assistant Coroner for South London.
Laura is instructed to defend in cases spanning a wide range of seriousness, including rape, child sexual abuse, s.18 assault, fraud, and drugs offences.
Laura has been instructed as sole counsel in a money laundering case with a value of over £2 million and has been led in a counterfeiting currency case valued at over £12 million. She is currently junior counsel for a lead defendant in a sophisticated pension fraud involving over 60 investors at an estimated loss of £5.4 million.
She is skilled at managing the voluminous paperwork and extensive disclosure that often arises in such cases. Her significant practice in the Tax Tribunal enables her to approach complex financial crime with confidence, she has particular knowledge in VAT and customs and excise.
Examples of criminal cases:
R v R [2023]
Laura represented a defendant alleged to have played a leading role in a sophisticated money laundering organisation. The group operated from an office in Canary Wharf and were alleged to have handled the proceeds of a £13 million drugs operation.
R v B [2022]
Junior counsel defending in the highest value counterfeit currency case ever prosecuted in English legal history. Laura’s client was said to have a leading role in the organisation of the scheme and was not convicted at the end of the 9-week trial.
R v E [2021]
Junior counsel for the first defendant accused of controlling prostitution, forced labour, rape and people trafficking in respect of a number of women allegedly trafficked from South America to the UK.
R v S [2021]
Defended a man accused of the rape of a 17-year-old girl who was attacked by a stranger on the street. The defence made successful legal applications before trial about the complainant’s sexual history and the admissibility of expert evidence. This was one of several cases Laura has dealt with involving the s.28 pre-recorded cross examination procedure.
R v May [2020] EWCA Crim 365
Defended a woman of good character who pleaded guilty to causing death by careless driving. Laura successfully challenged her sentence at the Court of Appeal: 24 weeks’ immediate imprisonment was replaced with a suspended sentence. An order for an extended driving test after obligatory disqualification from driving was also successfully appealed.
R v C [2020]
Represented a man accused of committing two random stabbings of women on the street in East London. The defendant was found not fit to plead and Laura acted in his interests at trial and sentence. The defendant received a hospital order. The case received attention in the local and national press.
R v K [2019]
Defended a man accused of rape, false imprisonment and assault occasioning actual bodily harm. He pleaded guilty to false imprisonment but was acquitted of rape and assault after a trial.
Laura has extensive working experience of public inquiries and inquests. Laura is currently Senior Junior counsel to the Covid Inquiry Legal Team (read more about the Inquiry here). She recently worked as part of the junior counsel team to the Infected Blood Inquiry.
Earlier in her career at the bar, Laura assisted with the review and preparation of evidence for organisations involved in the Hillsborough Inquests, and the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse. She acted as disclosure junior for an interested party in the Independent Jersey Care Inquiry.
Laura has a busy inquest practice, predominantly acting on behalf of healthcare professionals and organisations. In major inquests, she is representing a doctor in the Inquests into the Deaths of the Patients of Ian Paterson.
Laura frequently represents NHS Trusts, care homes, local authorities, and medical professionals in inquests. Examples of instructions include:
In addition to her main practice, Laura sits part time as an Assistant Coroner at South London Coroner’s Court.
Laura is ranked in the Legal 500 as a leading junior in professional disciplinary and regulatory law. She prosecutes and defends in a range of professional disciplinary settings, particularly specialising in healthcare matters.
She is regularly instructed to defend registrants before the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service at both interim and final hearings. She also defends at the Nursing and Midwifery Council, Social Work England and Association of Chartered Certified Accountants.
Laura’s experience of financial crime and tax matters is of particular value when defending professionals before accounting and financial regulators, or registrants in any field facing accusations of financial impropriety.
Some recent examples of Laura’s work include;
She has prosecuted at the National College of Teaching and Leadership (now TRA) in cases concerning misconduct and dishonesty, and involving the questioning of child witnesses. She has also presented cases on behalf of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors and General Optical Council.
Laura’s experience across coronial and criminal proceedings enables her to approach professional discipline cases in a holistic manner and seek pragmatic solutions for clients.
Laura acts for HMRC both as a junior alone and led junior in tax appeals in the First-Tier Tribunal (Tax Chamber). She has been instructed by HMRC in cases concerning Missing Trader Intra-Community (MTIC) fraud, acquisition fraud, penalties and personal liability notices.
In a recent case, Laura acted as leading junior counsel, defending an appeal at the FTT. The appeal was presented by an experienced silk and involved reclaimed VAT in the sum of over £240k. This was a case of considerable complexity because the commodity traded was PPI leads, a commodity never before seen in Missing Trader/Acquisition frauds, and required the use of two experts. A close analysis of data protection law at the time of the transactions was also required. The appeal was dismissed after a two-week hearing; the Tribunal found that the appellant should have known his trading was connected with fraud and HMRC retained the sum in its entirety.
Laura is now the leading barrister for HMRC in the PPI Data field given her success in this case and her knowledge of this unique, fast-paced market and associated data protection law.
On Monday, the House of Lords Statutory Inquiries Committee published its report on recommended reforms…
Laura Stephenson acted for Dr A, an experienced Consultant, who faced allegations of sexually touching…
Chambers is pleased to announce that Laura Stephenson has been appointed as an Assistant Coroner…
