Lara O’Donnell

More about Lara O’Donnell

Lara is a Senior Associate Solicitor in our Occupiers’ and Public Liability Department. She joined Express Solicitors in February 2023 and has been a qualified solicitor for 13 years.

Lara is a history graduate from the University of York and went on to complete the Graduate Diploma in Law and the Legal Practice Course at Chester Law College. Post studies, Lara gained a paralegal role in a claimant personal injury firm, where she then went on to be offered and complete her training contract with seats in road traffic accidents, accidents at work and conveyancing. She was admitted as a solicitor in 2010.

Since qualification, Lara has worked throughout the North-West in a number of large claimant law firms in a variety of senior positions.

Initially Lara gained expertise on the MOJ portal and was Senior Solicitor and manager for a number of years. Subsequently she moved onto roles in both Liverpool and Manchester in a managerial and operational capacity, before most recently being Head of Employers’, Occupiers’ and Public Liability claims.

Throughout her career, Lara has taken a particular interest in supervising and teaching more junior members of the teams she has worked in. She takes pride in assisting them at the start of their career ladder and many have gone on to become fully qualified solicitors themselves.

Lara has a wide range of experience in personal injury matters, including CICA claims, road traffic accidents, accidents at work and public liability matters. Her real passion is however for litigation, and she is driven by navigating difficult cases on behalf of her clients to achieve a successful outcome. She is happy to take on claims that other law firms will not and work with her clients to focus on the strengths of the matter in order to achieve the best outcome.

Lara is aware that the claims process can be daunting and strives to make the process as stress free as possible for her clients from start to finish. She adopts a good working rapport with her clients and explains the case strategy and claims process in a way that can be easily followed and understood.

Outside of work Lara is mum to 11-year-old Esme and lives in Formby with their two dogs. She is also a keen runner and can be found competing in races across the North-West most weekends. Her next challenge in is the Loch Ness marathon which will also be a means to raise funds for her local neo-natal unit.

Lara is also a governor of Formby High School and is largely involved in advising on risk management and budget considerations. This is a position that she finds really rewarding in terms of being actively involved in the local high school and making important contacts across the wider community.