Claire Powell
Associate solicitor
Claire is a associate solicitor in the international department, she is currently working on emission claim cases
Claire is an associate solicitor in the international department, currently assisting Nicola Marshall and Martyn Day with vehicle emissions claims.
During her training contract Claire worked in the employment and discrimination department, assisting on equal pay claims, including the ASDA Supreme Court hearing in March 2021. She also gained experience with individual employment and discrimination claims; and secured public funding for a sexual assault survivor for her discrimination claim against the DWP. Her second seat was in the clinical negligence department, working on a wide range of cases, and assisting with the team’s inquest work.
Prior to joining Leigh Day, Claire was an immigration advisor at a large legal aid firm, working on asylum appeals, immigration bail and private immigration matters. She also has experience in social housing and welfare benefits law.
Outside the office, Claire is training as a Legal Observer with Black Protest Legal Support and is a member for Amnesty International and the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. She has written for the Centre for Women's Justice and is a regular contributor to the Discrimination Law Association Review.
She is a member of the firm's Green Committee and has assisted the BAME Committee with a mock interview scheme for students at schools with low university attendance.
Read Claire's articles in DLA Briefings
- EAT rules DWP’s disability discrimination is justified DLA Briefings July 2021 956
- CA rules that failure to pay London allowance during maternity leave is not direct sex discrimination DLA Briefings July 2021 979
- Reconciling freedom from discrimination and freedom of expression DLA Briefings July 2020 939
- Making Comparisons in Equality Law. Book review. DLA Briefings March 2021 961-972
- ‘Words have wings’: Advocate General Sharpston considers that homophobic comments made in a radio interview can contravene the Equal Treatment Framework Directive DLA Briefings March 2020 925.
Related blogs
Euro 7 – Has nothing been learned from Dieselgate?
Hannah Donnelly and Claire Powell discuss the release of the Euro 7 proposal, and the European Commission’s missed opportunity to implement stricter emissions standards, and improve the air quality in our towns and cities.
Group Litigation Orders in consumer group litigation: the renewed case for reform
Partner Shazia Yamin, who led on the first Volkswagen emissions group action, and solicitor Claire Powell, discuss the need for reform in consumer group litigation and consider how different procedural mechanisms in other jurisdictions operate.
Forced Labour in the Uyghur Region: activists, campaigners and lawyers call for urgent action in the European Parliament
Oliver Holland and Claire Powell from the International Department report on the work of the Coalition to End Uyghur Forced Labour and their attendance at the recent public panel event at the European Parliament in Brussels.