Emma Hastings-Bray

Emma Hastings-Bray is a senior associate in the regulatory and public law team based in our Grimsby office.

She graduated from the University of York in 2013, before obtaining her legal practice qualification and master's in commercial law from the University of Law in 2014. She then qualified as a solicitor in 2018 and joined Wilkin Chapman the following year.

Her work mostly focuses on data protection and information law. She regularly advises clients on the nuances of:

• UK GDPR;

• the Data Protection Act 2018;

• the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003; and

• the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

She works across a variety of sectors including agriculture, tourism and leisure, and education. Emma regularly acts for a broad range of clients, from large corporations to local authorities and multi academy trusts.

Key specialisms

Data protection audits

Emma works with clients to assess their organisation’s compliance with UK data protection law. Her work involves reviewing an organisation’s current level of compliance, identifying areas of risk, and then implementing a step by step plan to improve these.

The audit process covers the full range of data protection law and she works closely with organisations to help them understand the data they hold so they can ensure that their processing activities are compliant with the law.

Data protection training

Emma provides training on key areas of data protection compliance from how to handle subject access and freedom of information requests to board level compliance training. She regularly provides external training and has provided sessions to Lawyers in Local Government and the Society of Local Council Clerks.