» IT and Commercial Law

IT and Commercial Law

For clients large and small I provide quality legal advice on a range of areas under the general description of “tech law” – but it is not just for providing quality advice that I was rated in the independent Chamber Guide to the Legal Profession as a “Leader in their Field” when I set up in business. I aim at all times to understand what my clients want – quality advice and service of course, but legal services focused on achieving what my clients want.

it-law

I can help you in a number of areas to do with Technology Law:

COMMERCIAL WORK

Not just giving you a set of terms and conditions, but helping you put together a deal. I work on the basis of close cooperation with my clients’ commercial function – the most important aim is to achieve for my clients what it is they want to achieve. For example:

Acting for a major international supplier by working with their commercial team to produce updated documentation for a multi-million pound international outsourcing to reflect the customer’s sell-off of more than 50% of its business
Acting for medium-sized offshoring company in constructing a deal for the supply of a major new CRM system for a health authority
Acting for a major IT services supplier in negotiating a major revision to a five-year quarter of a billion pound procurement contract
Acting for a large Government department in drafting terms for the procurement of a large IT system to run its front- and back-office systems for interfacing with the public
Acting for many smaller clients in putting together standard terms and conditions for use in their business and – just as important – advising on how they should be used

DISPUTE WORK

Using my experience in mediation and arbitration to think of a solution that is right for you and show you how to achieve it. This is fundamental in the IT industry, where so many contracts are long-term and relationship based – litigation is often the nuclear option, there but only to be used in last resort. Most clients want first of all to investigate and understand their various options before choosing to sue – that is where my experience and skillsets can really come into play. For example:

Acting for a major international supplier in pursuing a City of London financial organisation for breach of software license terms and copyright infringement
Acting for software supplier in dispute with customer concerning multiple allegations of non-compliance with specification
Acting for City of London financial institution in dispute concerning entitlements under a communications agreement
Acting for a prominent software licensor in pursuing major user organisations that were in breach of software licence terms

PRIVACY AND DATA PROTECTION

Helping you understand and and successfully negotiate the myriad of problems that come up with data protection and freedom of information

Advising charity on its duties under relevant data protection law and advising on how most efficiently to comply with relevant regulations
Advising trade body on data protection issues and reviewing their existing processes and advising on relevant improvements
Advising major international software vendor on its rights and responsibilities with regard to the Freedom of Information Act when tendering to the UK Government

As you can imagine, the GDPR has come up quite a lot recently, and I have advised many clients on their rights and responsibilities under the GDPR as well as drafting contractual provisions which steer a path through the new legal landscape.

UPDATES ON IT and Commercial Law

Quantum meruit – what do you get paid for working without a contract

22 September 2022

Suppliers can often get drawn into working without a contract or ‘at risk’ as it is sometimes called. But what if no contract ever gets agreed? Can the supplier get paid anyway? If so, how much? This webinar looks at some recent case-law which illustrates that getting paid for work performed without a contract is by no means guaranteed.

Leaky boilerplate: how boilerplate clauses are there to cause problems

13 April 2022

Boilerplate are those little harmless looking clauses normally to be found at the end of contracts. They seem harmless enough because many lawyers put them in without thinking too carefully about them but I look at a number of these clauses and talk about the potentially harmful effects they can have when it comes to a dispute.

Court of Appeal lays down the law on loss of profits exclusions

9 April 2022

Every once in a while, a case comes along that is so important, so central to what we do when drafting, negotiating or litigating commercial contracts under English Law, that is essential to understand the implications immediately. Soteria (CISGIL) v IBM is just such a case: the Court of Appeal looks at the scope of the exclusion of loss of profits, one of the commonest exclusion clauses there is and pretty much standard in just about every commercial contract. Now we know what it means.

Major case on liabilities makes it to the Supreme Court: penalty clauses will never be the same again!

27 July 2021

For a number of years, the case of Triple Point v PTT has been winding its tortuous route through the courts up to the Supreme Court. Many commentators were left aghast by the Court of Appeal’s judgment and its effects on liquidated damages clauses (commonly referred to as “penalties”). After much waiting, we finally have the decisive word on some important aspects of liabilities provisions. There is much to note from this important case.