Laura Elfield — CV
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LAURA ELFIELD Mediator since 2018 Barrister since 1996 I am passionate about mediation. Set against the costs, uncertainties and delays involved in litigating, ADR allows the participants to stay in control of the process and the outcome. A successful mediation helps to get to the heart of what really matters to the participants. It can help them to move forwards. I am convinced that it is the future. PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND Mediation & ADR Laura has been a mediator since 2018. She is accredited to undertake civil and commercial, as well as workplace and employment mediations. She joined Global Mediation in 2025 as an NHS panel mediator. Laura specialises in clinical negligence and personal injury work. In addition to her work as a mediator, Laura is on the faculty of the London School of Mediation where she provides mediation training to others. Laura regularly undertakes mediation work, both as mediator and advocate. She also undertakes early neutral evaluation work. Laura is head of the ADR team at Deka Chambers. She also edits the ADR chapter for Kemp & Kemp: Personal Injury Law. She wrote the chapter on ADR to Deka Chambers’ Clinical Negligence Handbook (2026). She reguarly lectures on all things ADR. Laura is able to mediate the range of clinical negligence and personal injury claims. Recent mediation work has encompassed claims ranging from surgical negligence and consent, in particular in relation to the insertion of pelvic mesh; alleged negligent neonatal care leading to infant death; and stress at work claims. A number of the claims involved substantial six figure sums. Barrister Laura has been working as a barrister since 1996. She is recognised as a leading junior in the Legal 500 for both clinical negligence and personal injury work. She has a mixed caseload, encompassing at present - traumatic brain injury; cancer misdiagnosis; incomplete tetraplegia; and catastrophic psychiatric injury, including those suffered as secondary victim or arising from stress at work. She has a particular interest in claims involving women’s health, including gynaecological injuries; insertion of pelvic mesh; and allegations of failure properly to consent.
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QUALIFICATIONS Laura obtained a BA in Modern History at Oxford in 1991. She was called to the Bar in 1996, after obtaining a distinction in her Law Conversion Course at the University of Sussex and undertaking the Bar Vocational Course at the Inns of Court School of Law. She obtained accreditation as a civil and commercial mediator in 2018; and as a workplace and employment mediator in 2019, both with the London School of Mediation. She thereafter joined the Faculty in 2020. FEEDBACK • Feedback from the Legal 500 is that Laura is: “incredibly meticulous … cutting through and understanding the essence” of a dispute; that she is “great with clients” and also “very experienced and incredibly clever.” Feedback from mediation clients includes the following: • “Laura was patient and professional at all times … helping us both understand the problem from the others’ perspective.” • “… From the very beginning of the mediation, it felt like a very safe space …” • “By the end of the meeting, both parties had agreed to a settlement agreement, which was a great outcome …”