Privacy Policy

Barrister News (“Barrister News”, “we”, “us”, “our”) respects your privacy and is committed to protecting personal data.

This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, store, share, and protect personal data when you visit https://barristernews.co.uk/ (the “https://barristernews.co.uk/”), contact us, subscribe to our newsletter, submit information, or otherwise interact with us.

This Privacy Policy is intended to help you understand:

  • what personal data we collect
  • how and why we use it
  • the lawful bases we rely on
  • how long we keep it
  • your rights under UK data protection law

Barrister News acts as a data controller in relation to the personal data described in this Privacy Policy.

1. Contact Details

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or how we use your personal data, please contact:

Barrister News
Email: info@barristernews.co.uk  
Address: 6 North Parade Bath BA1 1LF

2. What Personal Data We Collect

We may collect and process the following categories of personal data.

A. Information You Provide Directly

This may include:

  • your name
  • email address
  • organisation or chambers name
  • job title or professional role
  • phone number (if provided)
  • message content
  • correction or takedown request details
  • article or profile submission content
  • sponsorship or advertising enquiry details
  • any attachments or supporting documents you send us

B. Newsletter and Subscription Data

If you sign up to receive newsletters or updates, we may collect:

  • your email address
  • your name (if provided)
  • your subscription preferences
  • information about whether you open or click emails (depending on the mailing platform used)

C. Website Usage and Technical Data

When you visit the Website, we may automatically collect certain technical and usage information, such as:

  • IP address
  • browser type and version
  • operating system
  • device type
  • referral source
  • pages visited
  • time spent on pages
  • click behaviour
  • approximate geographic location
  • date and time of access

This may be collected through cookies, analytics tools, and similar technologies.

D. Public Professional Information

Because Barrister News is a legal publication, we may also collect, use, and publish limited publicly available professional information relating to barristers, chambers, clerks, and other legal professionals where relevant to editorial, informational, or profile-style content.

This may include:

  • professional names
  • chambers affiliation
  • call year / silk or professional status (where publicly available)
  • practice areas
  • publicly available biographies
  • publicly available awards, appointments, or professional roles
  • publicly available clerking or professional contact information
  • links to official websites or profiles

We do not seek to publish private personal data that is irrelevant to our editorial or informational purposes.

3. How We Collect Personal Data

We collect personal data in a number of ways, including:

  • when you contact us by email or through a contact form
  • when you subscribe to our newsletter
  • when you submit profile updates, corrections, comments, or content
  • when you enquire about sponsorship, advertising, or partnerships
  • when you browse or interact with the Website
  • through cookies and analytics technologies
  • from publicly available professional sources
  • from official websites, regulators, chambers pages, public biographies, or other lawful public sources
  • from user-submitted or professionally submitted updates

4. How We Use Personal Data

We may use personal data for the following purposes:

  • to operate, maintain, and improve the Website
  • to respond to enquiries and correspondence
  • to send newsletters and publication updates
  • to manage subscriptions and unsubscribe requests
  • to review and process submissions, profile updates, or correction requests
  • to compile, maintain, and publish professional profile-style content
  • to administer advertising, sponsorship, and commercial enquiries
  • to monitor usage and improve Website performance and content
  • to detect, prevent, or investigate misuse, abuse, or unlawful activity
  • to protect our legal rights and editorial integrity
  • to comply with legal or regulatory obligations
  • to handle complaints, corrections, and disputes

5. Lawful Bases for Processing

Under UK data protection law, we must have a lawful basis for processing personal data.

Depending on the circumstances, we may rely on one or more of the following:

A. Consent

We rely on consent where appropriate, including:

  • when you sign up to receive marketing or newsletter communications
  • where required for non-essential cookies or tracking technologies
  • where you voluntarily submit certain information for publication or review

You can withdraw consent at any time, although this will not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before withdrawal.

B. Legitimate Interests

We rely on legitimate interests for a number of our activities, including:

  • operating and securing the Website
  • responding to enquiries
  • running a legal news and editorial publication
  • publishing and maintaining professional profile-style content
  • processing publicly available professional information relevant to the Bar and legal sector
  • improving Website functionality, reach, and editorial relevance
  • managing sponsorship and commercial relationships
  • protecting our editorial and legal interests

Where we rely on legitimate interests, we consider and balance those interests against the rights and freedoms of individuals.

C. Legal Obligation

We may process personal data where necessary to comply with legal obligations, including where required to:

  • respond to lawful requests
  • maintain appropriate records
  • handle legal complaints or disputes
  • meet applicable legal or regulatory requirements

D. Contract

In some cases, we may process personal data where necessary to perform a contract with you or to take steps at your request before entering into a contract, for example in relation to certain advertising or commercial arrangements.

6. Publishing Professional Profiles and Editorial Content

Barrister News may process limited personal data in connection with editorial content, reporting, profile pages, or informational content about legal professionals and organisations.

This may include publicly available professional information about:

  • barristers
  • chambers
  • clerks
  • legal commentators
  • legal organisations

We process and publish such information for legitimate editorial, informational, and public-interest purposes where we believe it is relevant, proportionate, and lawful to do so.

We aim to ensure that profile-style information is:

  • professionally relevant
  • proportionate to the purpose of publication
  • based on lawful and appropriate sources

If you believe information published by us is inaccurate or outdated, you may contact us at info@barristernews.co.uk and we will review the request.

7. Who We Share Personal Data With

We may share personal data with trusted third parties where reasonably necessary for the operation of Barrister News.

These may include:

  • website hosting providers
  • email/newsletter service providers
  • analytics providers
  • website security or anti-spam providers
  • cloud storage or productivity providers
  • legal, regulatory, or professional advisers
  • service providers involved in Website maintenance or administration

We require service providers to process personal data only where necessary and to handle it appropriately.

We do not sell personal data to third parties.

8. International Transfers

Some third-party service providers we use may store or process personal data outside the United Kingdom.

Where personal data is transferred internationally, we will take reasonable steps to ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place where required by applicable data protection law.

9. Data Retention

We retain personal data only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, including for legal, operational, editorial, and record-keeping purposes.

Retention periods may vary depending on the nature of the data and why it was collected.

As a general guide:

  • newsletter subscription data is kept until you unsubscribe or request deletion (subject to lawful suppression records where needed)
  • contact and enquiry records may be kept for up to 24 months or longer where reasonably necessary
  • advertising or commercial correspondence may be retained for longer where relevant to contractual or accounting matters
  • correction, complaint, or legal correspondence may be retained for as long as necessary to manage legal or reputational risk
  • Website analytics data is retained according to our analytics settings and operational needs
  • editorial or profile-related records may be retained where relevant to publication history, editorial archives, or record integrity

We may retain information for longer where required or permitted by law.

10. Cookies and Analytics

We may use cookies and similar technologies to operate and improve the Website.

These may include:

  • strictly necessary cookies
  • analytics cookies
  • functional cookies
  • embedded content or third-party service cookies

Cookies may help us to:

  • understand how users interact with the Website
  • improve performance and usability
  • remember preferences
  • manage technical functionality

Where required by law, we will request your consent before placing non-essential cookies on your device.

For more information, please see our Cookie Policy (if available) or your browser/device settings.

11. Third-Party Services and Embedded Content

The Website may include embedded or linked content from third parties, such as:

  • YouTube
  • LinkedIn
  • X / Twitter
  • newsletter tools
  • social sharing tools
  • embedded media or forms

These third parties may collect personal data independently of us when you interact with their content or services. Their use of your personal data is governed by their own privacy policies.

12. Data Security

We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to help protect personal data from unauthorised access, loss, misuse, alteration, or disclosure.

However, no online system can ever be guaranteed to be completely secure, and you provide information at your own risk.

13. Your Rights

Under UK data protection law, you may have rights in relation to your personal data, depending on the circumstances.

These may include the right to:

  • request access to your personal data
  • request correction of inaccurate or incomplete data
  • request deletion of your personal data
  • request restriction of processing
  • object to processing carried out on the basis of legitimate interests
  • request transfer of certain data to you or another provider (where applicable)
  • withdraw consent where processing is based on consent

These rights are not absolute and may be subject to legal or editorial exemptions.

To exercise any of your rights, please contact us at  info@barristernews.co.uk

We may need to verify your identity before responding to certain requests.

14. Complaints

If you have concerns about how we use your personal data, we encourage you to contact us first so that we can try to resolve the issue.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) in the United Kingdom.

ICO website: https://ico.org.uk/

15. Children

The Website is not intended for children, and we do not knowingly collect personal data from children through ordinary use of the Website.

16. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time.

Any changes will be posted on this page with an updated “Last updated” date. Continued use of the Website after changes are posted will indicate acceptance of the updated policy where applicable.