People | Laurence Harbottle

Co-founder of Harbottle & Lewis, Laurence deals extensively with matters relating to the arts, principally within the Theatre industry. He acts for clients of the Private Client Practice and works with the Charities Group.

His long involvement in the arts has included membership of the Arts Council and its Drama Panel and many of its Committees. He was the first Chairman of Theatre Centre, Prospect Productions, Cambridge Theatre Company and the Royal Exchange Theatre. He has been the president of Theatrical Management Association and the Chairman of the Institute of Contemporary Arts, The Theatres Trust and the Central School of Speech and Drama. With Simon Callow he established the Peggy Ramsay Foundation of which he is now the Chairman and Executive Trustee. He is the Honorary Vice-President of the Theatrical Management Association. He is also the honorary Solicitor for the Society for Theatre Research and the National Council of Drama Training.

Laurence read for his MA at Cambridge and qualified in 1952. He founded Harbottle & Lewis in 1955 with Brian Lewis. He was a Senior Partner of the firm and now maintains close links by acting as a Consultant, a position he has held since 1994.