Emma is an associate solicitor in the International and Group Claims Department, specialising in government and
corporate accountability cases.
Emma joined Leigh Day in December 2012 to help represent a group of farmers in Colombia, in an environmental claim against a subsidiary of the multinational, BP plc. The case was one of the first corporate accountability cases to go to a full trial in the UK.
Emma was also part of the team that acted on behalf of the family of a British soldier who was killed, and two soldiers who were injured, in a friendly fire incident whilst on active duty in Iraq. It was alleged that negligent failure by the Ministry of Defence to equip troops had resulted in harm on the battlefield. This milestone case went before the Supreme Court, [
Smith & Ors v the Ministry of Defence [2013] UKSC 41], and successfully challenged the application of the combat immunity defence to these claims. This decision enabled the clients’ cases for damages for negligence against the Ministry of Defence, to proceed in the High Court.
Since 2015, Emma has assisted Leigh Day’s Managing Partner,
Frances Swaine, to respond to and defend allegations made against the firm and three of its solicitors by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, in connection with the Al Sweady inquiry. From September 2016 Emma was the lead solicitor of the firm’s internal team, assisting the Partnership. The case was heard in the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal between April and June 2017, at the end of which the firm and its solicitors were cleared of all charges against them.
Emma speaks fluent Spanish and trained at social welfare law firm, Hansen Palomares, where she formed part of a specialist team of litigation lawyers working for tenants, the homeless, disabled people, welfare benefits claimants and victims of accidents, providing clients with a bilingual service in English and Spanish.