Jo is a supervising solicitor and lecturer in law in the Legal Clinic at King’s College London. A practising solicitor since 2003, she specialises in housing and public law. She trained in social welfare law before leading strategic litigation on housing and homelessness at Shelter, including Supreme Court challenges relating to homelessness, the benefit cap and out-of-area temporary housing placements.

In the King’s Legal Clinic, Jo runs a housing advice service with students, covering possession, disrepair, landlord and tenant disputes and homelessness. She has also developed a student health justice partnership (the Health and Housing project) in collaboration with King’s College Hospital and Guys and St Thomas’ Hospital, where students work alongside hospital staff to advise patients experiencing homelessness or housing insecurity.

Jo is active in the field of housing and homelessness law and is a member of the Housing Law Practitioners Association. She has extensive experience of advocacy in relation to housing and homelessness both in court and in the national media. She moved into higher education in 2023 and is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Teaching

• LLB – Student Law Clinic module (module lead)

Research Interests 

Jo’s research engages with housing and homelessness policy and practice, legal aid and access to justice, and the role of student health justice partnerships in clinical legal education.

Publications

Underwood, Jo and Wright, James, The Health and Housing Project: A Study of a Student Health Justice Partnership in Practice (August 07, 2026). Available here.

Underwood, Jo and Piggott, Hannah and Wright, James, Closed Doors: The Challenges of Finding Face-to-Face Help with Homelessness Applications, and the Impact on Hospitals in London (October 09, 2025). King’s Legal Clinic, The Dickson Poon School of Law and The Policy Institute, King’s College London, October 2025. Available here.