Laura specialises in all aspects of Court of Protection law, with extensive experience in both the health and welfare and property and affairs jurisdictions. She also has a particular interest in inquests involving residents at care homes and hospitals who are deprived of their liberty under Schedule A1 of the Mental Capacity Act 2005.

Laura has experience of many aspects of health and welfare law in the Court of Protection, including serious medical treatment, Covid vaccinations, cases involving issues of coercion and control, challenges to contact arrangements, deprivation of liberty and best interests disputes. Laura has dealt with a number of complex cases, which have included disputes surrounding the correct legal framework for detention of an individual lacking capacity and the interplay between the Mental Health Act and Mental Capacity Act.

Laura also has extensive experience in the practicalities of day-to-day property and affairs management. She is instructed in cases where deputies or attorneys have had their appointments revoked for misconduct, financial abuse cases, disputes surrounding P’s capacity and to advise on the appropriateness of deputyship in individual cases

Iain Brassington is a philosopher who has been teaching bioethics and philosophy of law at the University of Manchester School of Law since 2006.  His research interests are varied, covering ethical questions raised by genetic technologies, by testamentary inheritance, and by assisted dying.  His most recent book, The Private Life of the Genome, was published in 2023; in his next, he hopes to examine what it means to act on principle, and whether, when, and why we should give moral weight to allegedly principled actions.

David Barker MBE is the Chief Executive of Willow Burn Hospice in Lanchester, County Durham.  David has held senior leadership roles in a number of north east charities including Percy Hedley Foundation, Springboard and Disability North. He is a former Vice Chair of Voluntary Organisations Network North East.

David has a degree in Social Sciences and a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from The Open University.  In 2001 David was awarded an MBE for services to disability rights. He is a season ticket holder at Hartlepool United.