About Laura

Academic | Speaker | Advisor

Laura has dedicated the past 25 years to researching professionals and the professions, funded through a series of prestigious government awards. Her research encompasses themes as diverse as:

leadership and governance;
organisational, cultural and identity change;
professionalisation of management;
mergers and acquisitions;
knowledge management and innovation;
professional careers and diversity; and
partner evaluation and reward systems.

She is committed to translating her academic research for a practitioner audience, so alongside her directorship and professorship at Cass Business School and fellowship at Harvard Law School, she acts as an advisor to many of the world’s leading professional organizations. She also acts as a non-executive director and governmental advisor.

Current positions

Since 2007 Laura has been Professor in the Management of Professional Service Firms at Cass Business School, University of London, and Director of the Centre for Professional Service Firms. She is a member of the Executive Committee of the Business School. She is also Senior Research Fellow at Harvard Law School’s Center on the Legal Profession.

Previous employment

For ten years Laura was Associate Professor at the University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School and a Fellow of St Anne’s College, Oxford. Before becoming an academic, Laura worked as an investment banker and strategy consultant.

Academic qualifications

Laura has a PhD and MBA from London Business School and a BSc (Economics) from University College, London.

Board memberships

In 2020 Laura was invited to become a founding member of the Strategic Advisory Board of the Journal of Management Studies. From 2013 to 2016 she was an Independent Non-Executive of KPMG LLP (becoming INE Chair in 2015). She is a long standing member of the Editorial Board of Organization Studies and the Journal of Professions and Organizations.

Selected awards

Laura’s research has been funded through a series of prestigious awards from the Economic and Social Research Council, the EU, and the Society for the Advancement of Management Studies. In 2019 she was nominated for the Thinker’s 50 Leadership Award.

Personal motivations

My initial move into academia was inspired by my work as an investment banker and a strategy consultant, and my frustration with the poor leadership I experienced in these sectors. I wanted to make sense of my own experiences and to understand better why smart people do ‘stupid’ things.

I remain fascinated by studying professional organizations because they flout many conventional ‘rules’ of management and leadership, thriving on complexity, ambiguity, and paradox. Over the years, I have maintained my commitment to using insights from my academic research to help professional organizations, and the people who work within them, addressing some of their most challenging problems.

Values

Synchronising research and practice

Laura believes profoundly in the complementary relationship between academic research and professional practice. She applies intellectual rigour to make objective recommendations based on rich evidence and insight from her research.

Grounded in the real world

Laura’s thinking is grounded in in-depth insight into organisational reality. She gets beneath the skin of her clients’ organizations to dissect and analyse their most complex organisational issues.

Integrated thinking

Laura brings an unusual ability to combine in-depth insights and lateral thinking with intuitive understanding.

Pushing boundaries of knowledge

Laura continuously develops and challenges her own thinking to develop original and bespoke insights for her clients.

Publications

Laura has published numerous articles in leading international academic journals (see here)
and edited and authored three highly influential books (see here).

Media

Laura is a regular media contributor, providing expert commentary and background briefings to journalists on subjects including professional service firms, leadership, and governance.

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