Laura Hoyano

After many years of trial and appellate advocacy experience at the Canadian Bar (Alberta Bar 1983), with many reported judgments, Laura Hoyano developed a high-profile academic career at the University of Oxford, where she is now Emeritus Professor of Law.

Laura has an international reputation for her research in the Crime and Civil Liberties & Human Rights aspects of child abuse and child sexual exploitation as well as Human Trafficking, abusive relationship cases and the handling of vulnerable witnesses. Since 2015 she has also practised in these fields at the English Bar.

Laura also practises in Regulatory & Professional Disciplinary law, where vulnerable witnesses requiring special measures often appear. Due to her long experience working within the higher education sector, she brings unique knowledge and expertise to the handling of harassment and other complaints of misconduct, in student/academic relations and academic/academic relations alike. She has a particular interest in professional tribunals in the medical sector; she lectured for many years on accountability for clinical errors in medical law at the postgraduate level in Oxford.

Her expertise in criminal and civil issues vaulting across juridical boundaries, and across practice and academic research, makes her adept in developing lateral and creative strategies for cases. Laura’s distinctive contribution to developing the law, practice and public policy on many fronts because of her dual perspectives as advocate and academic was acknowledged in a feature article in Counsel (‘Laura Hoyano: Advocating for Change’, March 2020 issue).

Since 2012 she has written the chapter in Blackstone’s Criminal Procedure on vulnerable witnesses and defendants and special measures directions (Chapter D 14), and she is a contributor to Rook & Ward on Sexual Offences (2021) and every edition of Achieving Best Evidence in Criminal Proceedings, the official guidance for the management of vulnerable witnesses. She is a frequent author and commentator for the Criminal Law Review. She has lectured on these topics over many years for the Criminal Bar Association, the Services Prosecuting Authority, Judicial Studies Board, Magistrates’ Association, Family Justice Council, Old Bailey Mess and Middle Temple, as well as internationally.

She is famed for her flow diagrams mapping the rules of evidence for the use of practitioners, judges, and students of the law. She is frequently sought as an expert commentator by British and international media. She has carried out research commissioned by the Home Office, Ministry of Justice and the Scottish Government, as well as by foreign public inquiries into sexual offences and child abuse.

Because of her acknowledged expertise, including representing the Criminal Bar Association on the Rape Review, Laura is frequently interviewed in the media on child abuse/RASSO issues.

MA (Oxon)

BCL, Balliol College, University of Oxford: First Class

JD, Alberta: First Class

MA, Mediaeval History, Alberta

BA (Hons) History, Alberta: First Class (four year degree)