Samantha Freeze
Associate Solicitor
Sami is an Associate Solicitor in the International Department.
Sami is a solicitor in the International Department specialising in UK and international human rights litigation, modern slavery claims, and environmental nuisance disputes. She trained in the Human Rights Department, representing vulnerable adults in the Court of Protection, bereaved families at inquests, and former children in foster care pursuing redress under the Human Rights Act. She later completed her training in the International Group Claims Department with a focus on large-scale environmental and modern slavery cases.
Sami has worked on a number of complex, high‑profile cases across multiple jurisdictions, including:
- San San Aye v Tesco Plc & Others: A claim brought by 130 Burmese workers and one migrant child against Tesco and an auditing company, alleging negligence and unjust enrichment following claims of forced labour at a Thai factory supplying F&F clothing.
- Limbu & Ors v Dyson Technology Ltd & Ors: A case brought by 23 migrant workers and the estate of a deceased worker who were employed at Malaysian factories producing Dyson products. The claimants allege forced labour, false imprisonment, assault, battery, cruel and degrading treatment, and exposure to hazardous working and living conditions.
- Evans & Ors v Avara Foods Ltd, Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water & Anor: A collective legal action by residents of the Wye, Lugg, and Usk catchments against Dŵr Cymru and companies within the Avara Foods group, alleging responsibility for environmental pollution in the region.
- Vehicle Emissions Litigation: Acting for hundreds of thousands of UK vehicle owners bringing claims against car manufacturers accused of fitting ‘defeat devices’ to diesel vehicles to evade EU and UK emissions standards.
- Milasi Josiya & Others v British American Tobacco Plc & Others: Representing thousands of Malawian claimants alleging negligence and unjust enrichment by major tobacco companies arising from forced and child labour on tobacco farms.
Sami was also part of the legal team that secured a landmark judgment on jurisdiction and parent company liability in Lungowe & Others v Vedanta Resources Limited & Konkola Copper Mines, concerning alleged environmental pollution in Zambia. The decision has had significant implications for transnational human rights and environmental litigation.
Before joining Leigh Day, Sami worked in refugee resettlement programmes in Canada and the Middle East.
She speaks Spanish, French, Portuguese, and Levantine Arabic, and is a member of the LGBTQ+ Committee.
Publications:
Sexual exploitation in supply chains: what can consumers do?
The impact of period poverty in the UK and around the world
More hope for children in failure-to-remove claims
Legal Brief: Deprivation of Liberty under the Inherent Jurisdiction
Legal Brief: Deprivation of Liberty under the Inherent Jurisdiction
Leigh Day specialise in children’s rights and the Court of Protection, often supporting the needs and safeguarding the rights of some of the most vulnerable of society.
The impact of period poverty in the UK and around the world
A week on from International Day of the Girl Child Liberty Bridge and Sami Freeze from the international department look to how lack of access to sanitary products is affecting access to education for girls around the globe