Laura Janes

Email: [email protected]

Practice Areas:

• Public Law
• Community Care
• Civil litigation

Experience:

Laura is a solicitor specialising in the rights of vulnerable people in detention in both penal and mental health settings. She was appointed an Honorary KC in March 2025. Her practice with the firm includes civil claims, community care and public law matters.

She is a visiting academic at South Bank University in the Law department. She has a professional doctorate in youth justice.

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 in Hammersmith and Fulham. She is also a trustee of the National Association for Youth Justice.

She is the Chair of the Association of Prison Lawyers. She is also a committee member for the Mental Health Lawyers’ Association, the Criminal Appeal Lawyers’ Association and 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 2005 and 2022 Laura worked for the Howard League for Penal Reform, a national charity. She continues to provide consultancy and support for charities on the areas within her expertise. She writes regularly for the Law Society Gazette and Inside Time.

Cases:

• R v N [2024] EWCA Crim 1375: successful appeal against sentence for a child lifer – reduction in minimum term
• R v S [2022] EWCA Crim 1379: successful appeal against sentence of a person given an IPP as a child
• R v C [2020] EWCA Crim 906: successful appeal against sentence of a person given a discretionary life sentence as a child
• R(AB) v SSJ [2021] UKSC 28: unsuccessful appeal against the finding that detaining a child for 55 days breached human rights (the Government later settled the case when it was appealed to the ECtHR)
• R(AB) v SSJ [2019] EWCA Civ 9: unsuccessful appeal against the finding that detaining a child for 55 days breached Articles 8 and 3 ECHR (the Government later settled the case when it was appealed to the ECtHR)
• R(AB) v SSJ [2017] EWHC 1694 (Admin): partially successful judicial review against the solitary confinement of a child in prison
• R(A and B) v Persons Unknown [2016] EWHC 3295 (Ch): successful application for lifelong anonymity
• R v F [2016] EWCA Crim 1867: successful appeal against sentence of a person given an IPP as a child
• R (M) v Chief Magistrate [2010] EWHC 433: successful judicial review of a decision to impose additional days on a child for breach of prison rules that would have resulted in him not being entitled care support
• Regina v S [2010] EWCA Crim 1462: successful appeal against sentence for a child who received a life sentence
• Regina v M.J. [2007] EWCA Crim 1999: successful appeal against sentence for a child who received a harsher sentence for not having documents than adults would in a comparable situation

Publications:

• Parole Board Hearings: law and practice – 4th edition, Legal Action Group · Nov 25, 2025
• What the Sentencing Bill means for you, Inside Time · Oct 1, 2025
• Gauke’s Law? Some initial thoughts on the Sentencing Bill 2025, Law Society Gazette · Sep 8, 2025
• Neuroscience-informed Sentencing of Children, chapter in England and Wales in Accessibility symbol Accessibility Information Book International Perspectives of Neuroscience in the Youth Justice Courtroom, Routledge · Mar 31, 2025
• New sentencing guidance improves current two-tier system, Law Society Gazette · Mar 7, 2025
• Child lifers: Developments in law and policy and the need for a distinct approach by criminal justice professionals, Prison Service Journal · Oct 31, 2024
• Criminal Justice in British Legal Reform, chapter in An Agenda for Change, Bristol University Press/Policy Press · Sep 27, 2024
• The extended sentence – law and practice, Criminal Law Review · May 31, 2024
• Open justice and children in the criminal justice system, National Association of Youth Justice · Feb 7, 2024
• Dare to Care : Representing care experienced young people, Youth Justice Legal Centre · Sep 13, 2023
• Victims and Prisoners Bill, Law Society Gazette · Jun 16, 2023
• Young adults and the parole system – a scoping study, T2A · Mar 28, 2023
• Deterring From Crime Through Sentencing: Can It Be Justified? Youth Justice · Jul 1, 2022
• Children and Young People in Custody in England and Wales: Rights and Wrongs, In: Cox, A., Abrams, L.S. (eds) The Palgrave International Handbook
• Thirty Years On: On-going Challenges in Securing the Rights of Children in Custody in England and Wales, European Human Rights Law Review, Sweet and Maxwell · Apr 23, 2019