Laura talks with Paul about what took her into politics, what it feels like to be in the Chamber, her speech on Domestic abuse during lockdown and a week in the life of a semi-rural MP.

Laura Farris has been the Member of Parliament for Newbury since December 2019 and before that worked as a barrister specialising in unemployment and public law. In the House of Commons Laura sits on the Justice select committee, with a particular interest in employment, the environment and justice.

Laura Farris was called to the Bar in 2007 and awarded the Prince of Wales Scholarship by Grays Inn. She practices in the fields of employment, commercial and public law in a leading London Chambers and has been ranked as a leader in her field by Chambers UK. 

Over the course of her career, she is proud to have acted for clients ranging from investment banks to refuse-collectors and to have argued their cases before the highest courts in the country.

In 2015 she was appointed junior counsel to the Crown, in 2017 she was appointed Counsel to the Independent Inquiry on Child Sexual Abuse and in 2019 she was appointed Counsel to the Equality and Human Rights Commission (working in particular on the issue of disability in the workplace and in education). 

She is a former political journalist who has worked in Washington, New York and London for news organisations including BBC News and Reuters Business TV. She has previously written for the New York Times and Huffington Post.