Lauren Mackenzie

Lauren is an experienced commercial and civil litigator, having trained in the City and having established her career in London.  She is also an accredited mediator, with strong expertise in resolving legal disputes outside of a courtroom.

Lauren moved to Longmores in 2016, where she specialises in contested probate and trust disputes.  In essence, she helps individuals and families to resolve disputes about wills, estates or trusts.  Her expertise in this area is built on a background of handling business and personal disputes for clients of all sizes, from multinational corporations to individuals.  She has previous experience across many different areas of law, including financial services disputes.

Lauren enjoys building relationships with her clients, so that she is able to assist them to resolve disputes in a way that best suits them.  She often finds herself acting as a sounding board for her clients, offering sensible, pragmatic solutions that work.

Career

Having studied English and French at the University of Leeds, Lauren completed a Post-Graduate Diploma in Law and the Legal Practice Course at the University of Law.  She began her training contract with a leading global law firm in 2006.

Lauren qualified as a solicitor in 2008 and has worked at a range of UK firms and organisations since, including the Royal Bank of Scotland Group. She has also spent time working in commercial litigation in Brussels and has worked as a volunteer at the Human Rights Law Network in Delhi.

Expertise

Lauren’s specialism is in contentious probate and trust disputes.  She is an accredited mediator and accepts mediations involving probate and general commercial disputes.  She receives excellent feedback from her clients and has a very high settlement rate.  Matters on which Lauren has recently worked include:

• Contesting a claim made by a family member against the executors of an estate relating to a provision in the will for a proportion of the estate to be left to charity. Our advice helped our clients to overcome the claim and ensure the smooth administration of the deceased’s estate.
• Supporting the beneficiaries of a family will to claim their rightful inheritance. We helped our clients to defend a claim against them brought by the deceased’s partner concerning a property that constituted part of the estate. After an unsuccessful mediation, a settlement was reached that allowed our clients access to property that was rightfully theirs.
• Defending a claim by our client’s brother that our client had pressured his elderly mother to change her will and leave her home to our client only. At the trial we called the solicitor (from another firm) who had prepared the will. She told the court that she had met alone with the elderly lady, who the solicitor described as ‘formidable’, and the lady had predicted to her that her disinherited son would try to challenge the change in her will after her death. The claim against our client was dismissed.
• Defending the trustee and beneficiary of a trust, who has been subject to misappropriation of trust funds by her co-trustee, negligent advice from a professional, stalking and harassment. We are providing a full-service approach for the client, seeking to protect her interests while advising her on the personal matters of stalking and harassment.
• Advising the executors of an estate in a dispute against a former carer of the deceased regarding unauthorised transactions made from the deceased’s bank accounts before and after his death. Further advising the executors in a claim against a bank that breached its own terms by allowing the former carer to empty an estate bank account without the consent of the joint account holders.
• Defending a claim challenging the validity of a will by the daughter of the deceased. The daughter is a minor beneficiary and five charities are the major beneficiaries to the will. The daughter believes that, due to her father’s mental health issues, he was not in a sound state of mind to understand and approve the changes made to his will that largely disinherited her.
• Assisting a minor in state care, who is without parental or other family support, regarding a claim for sufficient funds from the estate of his adoptive late father.
• Settling a claim by an elderly widow, whose late husband left her only one-fifth of their marital home and no funds to enable her to support herself for the remainder of her life. She has moderate dementia, lives in a warden-assisted flat and currently receives no state care benefits.
• Advising the beneficiaries of their late grandmother’s estate on a claim to challenge the validity of the will on the basis of lack of testamentary capacity of the grandmother, and a claim against the executor in undue influence.

Recognition

Lauren is a Recommended Lawyer for Commercial Litigation in The Legal 500.  She is also an Accredited mediator with CEDR and a Member of ThoughtLeaders4 Private Client.

Professional feedback

“Lauren Mackenzie was calm and un-phased when a crisis, challenge or fork in the road descended. She consistently responded with clear-minded advice that helped me keep my composure. She is incredibly down to earth, has excellent judgment and total integrity in all she does. She is a highly strategic and tactical advocate. I could not have asked for somebody better to fight my corner.” The Legal 500 2023

“Her approach was empathetic to all parties, pragmatic around the key issues and robust around keeping discussions to a mutually agreed framework. Very impressive and highly recommended!”  Client, mediation

Personal interests

Lauren has two young children, who tend to take up most of her free time. She is a trained dancer and choreographer, as well as being a keen snowboarder (when she gets the chance!).

Nowadays, relaxation often looks more like reading a book or playing sports and going for walks with her family.

Lauren is fluent in French.