She studied modern languages at the University of Bristol,[1] where she dropped her Dudley accent in favour of received pronunciation.

[2] She began her professional career as a trainee reporter on the Western Mail and South Wales Echo between 1967 and 1970,[2] during which time she shared a house in Cardiff with Michael Buerk.

[2] In 1972, she worked as a sound recordist and then gained prominence as one of the reporters/presenters of BBC TV's news magazine Nationwide.

When Robin Day suffered a heart attack, Lawley sat in for him as the chair of the topical discussion programme Question Time for several editions.

Lawley was praised after a broadcast on 23 May 1988, when the studio was invaded by protesters opposed to Section 28: she continued to read the news whilst co-presenter Nicholas Witchell restrained one of them.

In an interview in 2019 for an edition of BBC Radio 4's The Reunion, looking back at pioneering women newsreaders, Lawley confirmed to host Sue MacGregor that she is fully retired.