Debbie Ashenhurst

Practice Areas

Debbie is the head of Wilsons' Education team and a partner in our Dispute Resolution team. She also leads our data protection and reputation management practices.

Debbie read law at Jesus College, Cambridge, before training at Dentons in London. Post-qualification she worked at media firm Olswang and in-house at The Guardian newspaper and the RSPCA. She joined Wilsons in 2016, having returned from the U.S. where she earned a LL.M from Georgetown University and worked in the environmental litigation field.

Dispute resolution

Debbie has a broad commercial litigation practice which includes handling a wide range of contractual, commercial and corporate disputes. She has particular expertise in reputation management including defamation, privacy, confidentiality, data protection and harassment law. Her practice also focuses on information law and she regularly advises clients on compliance with data protection and marketing laws. She has advised businesses, charities and schools on GDPR compliance, responding to subject access and similar requests and bringing or defending claims for breach of confidence, breach of data protection laws, misuse of private information, removal of online material and harassment. Her recent work includes:

- Acting for minority shareholders in unfair prejudice disputes;

- Acting for claimants and defendants in restraint of trade and breach of contract claims;

- Successfully representing claimants against a local authority for a serious misuse of private information and data breach;

- Helping numerous businesses, charities and schools become GDPR compliant and to respond to subject access and freedom of information requests;

- Defending businesses in defective goods claims;

- Helping businesses, charities and schools with reputation management issues.

Education

Debbie's focus is on providing practical and technically excellent advice to schools and parents on education-related matters including the legal and practical aspects of admissions, behaviour and discipline, exclusions and removals, complaints and appeals, SEND and discrimination claims, governance, commercial and contractual issues and safeguarding. She also has experience of drafting and reviewing school contractual, policy and other documents. Her background in dispute resolution, data protection and reputation management is particularly useful when advising clients on contentious matters, information sharing, data protection compliance, subject access and Freedom of Information Act requests and dealing with negative content on traditional or social media. Debbie's advice is informed by attention to the underlying law and a determination to deliver the best result for her clients at a reasonable cost and within a timescale that recognises the fast-paced reality of school life.