Joanne graduated from the University of Exeter with a Masters Degree in European Law. She qualified in September 1995 having trained with Lovells. She joined Fox Williams as a newly qualified solicitor in 1997 and after moving to Baker & McKenzie and later Charles Russell (where she was a Partner from 2003), Joanne rejoined Fox Williams in April 2008 as a Partner in the Employment Department.

Joanne advises a primarily employer client base on the whole range of HR and employment issues, both contentious and non-contentious. She has developed a particular expertise in defending high value and complex discrimination claims and has developed a particular area of expertise in age discrimination, working actively with the Employers Forum on Age and writing and lecturing extensively on the topic, including for her local branch of the CIPD in Hertfordshire.

Joanne was formerly a member of the Law Society Employment Law Committee and is heavily involved in the activities of the Employment Lawyers Association sitting on both its Management and Training committees. She has recently been elected unopposed to the post of Deputy Chair of the Association from May 2008.