Solicitor (Data Protection/Education) in Cheltenham

Join a nationally recognised, sector-leading team at the heart of education. Our highly sought-after Education and Charities Team is looking to grow our specialist data protection offering to support an award-winning practice that works with more than 400 educational establishments across the sector. With over 50 years of market presence, the team has built a national reputation for its deep sector knowledge and collaborative approach.

This is a fantastic opportunity for a junior solicitor to work with a broad client base on a wide range of data protection matters, within a collaborative and supportive team. You will be part of a team that is genuinely embedded in the sector and committed to giving back, making leading contributions to the firm’s wider charity initiatives. This is an outstanding opportunity to accelerate your development, build specialist expertise and contribute to work that directly supports the missions of well-known educational institutions and thriving businesses.

You will be advising a variety of clients on all aspects of data protection compliance. Your work will include:

• Providing clear, timely and pragmatic advice on UK data protection compliance.
• Supporting clients in responding to personal data breaches, data subject access requests, and other data subject rights requests.
• Drafting and negotiating data protection provisions in commercial contracts, including data processing agreements, data sharing agreements, and privacy clauses within M&A transactions.
• Supporting data protection due diligence in corporate transactions for clients across the education and charities sector.
• Working collaboratively with colleagues across practice areas to deliver joined-up advice and identify opportunities for cross-referral.

You’ll have the autonomy to manage your own matters, whilst also benefitting from close collaboration with experienced colleagues who will support and encourage your development.

We are looking for a qualified solicitor who has experience in commercial and/or data protection work. We are open to hearing from solicitors with up to 4 years’ experience. If this experience has been part of a wider commercial or corporate workload, or if gained in-house, please apply. You will have a solid understanding of the UK GDPR, Data Protection Act 2018, PECR and ICO guidance and be able to advise on data protection compliance.

It’s important that you are able to show commercial acumen, attention to detail and strong drafting skills; ideally you will also be able to demonstrate an understanding of emerging technologies and their privacy implications (e.g. AI, machine learning, biometrics, edtech). Experience with education and/or charity law clients is advantageous but not essential; more important is your appetite to learn.

You will be joining a team that values collaboration and commerciality. This is a real opportunity to help shape and grow a developing specialism within a supportive firm environment, with strong relationships and a high quality client base. You will be nurtured and encouraged to develop, and this team are able to proudly demonstrate many success stories of those who have gone from strength to strength.

Benefits of working with us:

• Private Medical Insurance
• Sight tests / Glasses discounts
• Scottish Widows Pension Scheme
• 28 days annual leave (plus public holidays)
• Bonus scheme
• Electric vehicle scheme
• International secondments for 0-5 PQE
• Happy People / Perks at Work benefits portal
• Cycle to Work scheme
• Life Assurance
• 1/3 gym membership contribution
• Flu vaccinations

HCR suits people who love a challenge and want to work in an environment where careers thrive on the back of hard work and personal merit. Our people enjoy feeling part of something bigger than themselves, and whilst our clients drive our development, it is our people who bring their energy, enthusiasm, and entrepreneurial mindsets together to solve problems and help our clients succeed.

Our people tell us they enjoy working on good quality, interesting matters from a wide variety of our clients, because they get the experience they want to develop their careers. We will give you responsibility early, the mandate to make things happen and we’ll back your good ideas. Our “Passion for People” lives and breathes every day throughout the firm as our peoples’ energy and sense of fun create a warm environment in which to thrive.

HCR’s growth constantly creates opportunities for people who want to go places and make a difference, your career plan can become part of our growth plan. At HCR you can expect to work with friendly, energetic, ambitious people, who love getting stuck into a client problem, and enjoy celebrating a good outcome. Our people value the sense of community provided by the individual personality of each office and the collegiate approach across all our service and sector teams.

As a Times Best Law firm, among the UK Top 50, we provide the full range of services that you would expect to organisations, business leaders and individuals. However, in our mission to give everyone the opportunity to experience a different kind of legal service we take an entrepreneurial approach. We’re flexible and responsive to the needs of our clients, delivering the best outcomes for them. We have more than 1000 lawyers and support staff, including more than 180 partners, and have been awarded the Law Society’s Lexcel quality mark in recognition of our compliance and client care standards.

With 12 offices in England and Wales our well-established presence stretches from west to east, ensuring clients can access a full-service legal offering no matter where they’re located. We’ve expanded significantly across all our regions, and are well-respected as a regional firm with a strong London and international presence.

With solid connections in the communities we work in, and a track record of delivering legal advice to businesses and individuals throughout the areas we base ourselves in, our clients continue to value our approach to providing legal advice, in the way they need, when they need it.

We also want you to achieve your absolute best during the recruitment process. Please let us know of any changes we can make at any point that will help support your application.

As HCR is an equal opportunities employer, we don’t just accept differences, we celebrate them. We want to attract a diverse and ambitious workforce that reflects all backgrounds and skills to create a workplace that is supportive and inclusive, recognises and nurtures talent, and which works together to achieve the best outcome for our clients. We are privileged to be an armed forces-friendly organisation.