Lawrence was educated at Wennington School in Wetherby, and then at St Catharine's College, Cambridge; he gained his doctorate as a student of Vincent Wigglesworth for work on Oncopeltus fasciatus (milkweed bug).

Lawrence's main discoveries lie in trying to understand the information that shapes an animal or generates a pattern (such as on a butterfly wing or a fingerprint).

Margrethe Vestager (European Commissioner for Competition) mentioned this event as an early example of algorithmic tacit collusion on March 16, 2017.

[16][17][18][19] Lawrence has also written many commentaries on the ethics of science practice,[20][21][22] as well as obituaries of Michael Berridge, Sydney Brenner, Francis Crick, and Ed Lewis.

[23] Lawrence was awarded membership of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) in 1976;[24] he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1983;[25] awarded the Darwin Medal in 1994;[26] and with Ginés Morata was a recipient of the Prince of Asturias Prize for scientific research in 2007;[27] he was elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 2000.