Joanne Lee is a consultant solicitor who joined the firm when it started in October 2000. She qualified as a solicitor in 1991 and has practised exclusively in criminal defence work since that date.

She has been a duty solicitor on many local police station and court schemes since 1993 and appears regularly as an advocate principally at Kingston and Richmond magistrates courts.

Before joining Birds Solicitors, Joanne was a consultant with Simons Muirhead & Burton where she also trained. In the time between leaving Simons Muirhead & Burton in 1991 and re-joining them as a consultant in 1998, she worked as an employed solicitor in East London and then at Foster Wells in Aldershot, principally as a defence solicitor and advocate in the criminal courts including defending armed service personnel in both military police and civilian court proceedings. She also undertook some prosecution work for the DSS.

Joanne was educated at the British School of Brussels, Belgium and Detroit Country Day School, Michigan, USA where she obtained the International Baccalaureate Diploma. In 1983 she went to University of Kent at Canterbury where she obtained a B.A.(Hons) in Law and Politics in1986. She went to the College of Law in Guildford and passed the Law Society Finals in 1989.