Archives: Conexus Team

Chris is an experienced commercial, technology and data lawyer with FTSE 100 in-house credentials.

Chris provides legal and commercial advice to a wide variety of clients, with a particular focus on strategically important commercial, technology and data contracts and technology enabled businesses.

Chris joined Conexus Law from the Commercial and Digital team of EY Law in London where he was a leader for the UK & Ireland in strategic procurement and outsourcing.

Chris was previously Head of Legal for Technology & Broadcast Operations at ITV, where he provided commercial legal support for all aspects of the ITV business. Chris was also a member of the senior technology team and a trusted advisor to ITV’s senior leadership team.

Prior to joining ITV, Chris learned his craft at Nabarro LLP (now CMS) and Fieldfisher, gaining top-tier experience acting for clients including household names (customers and suppliers), small early-stage companies and central government departments seeking to implement some of the most innovative ICT strategies.

Throughout his career, Chris has worked with many fast growth technology companies. This has led to a particular interest in emerging technologies.

Career Highlights

• Acting as primary legal advisor for one of the world’s largest fast-moving consumer goods companies on many of its high value, global contracts, including drafting and negotiating strategic SaaS, PaaS, software development, marketing and other outsourcing agreements.
• Advising The Business Banking Resolution Service, an entity funded by the 7 major UK banks, to create and facilitate a dispute resolution service for disputes between banks and small to medium enterprises (SMEs). This was a high-profile scheme, with parliamentary oversight, subject to much public scrutiny. Chris was a key part of the large EY multidisciplinary team and led the commercial and procurement legal workstreams.
• Acting for various SaaS suppliers in relation to their customer agreements and data protection issues, including: (i) an FCA regulated platform in the ECM / trading market; (ii) a well-known payment collections platform; (iii) a global platform used by businesses to produce their marketing materials; and (iv) a specialist provider of automated payment validation solutions that enables its clients to lower the cost of payment processing, by improving straight through processing rates.
• Advising The Association of International Certified Professional Accountants on a first generation high-value IT outsourcing project, provided to US and UK based users from offshore service centres.
• Acting for The Irish Government’s Department of Education, in relation to two high value and high profile public procurement exercises: (i) to procure a new payroll system for use by approximately 3,700 schools / 150,000 staff / payees in Ireland; and (ii) to procure a new finance shared services solution for use by the Education and Training Boards in Ireland.

Andrew is a commercial and data privacy lawyer who has spent over 25 years assisting major global corporations manage legal and commercial risk. Andrew has broad sector experience in technology, telecoms, health, energy and financial services.

Career Highlights

• Representing Nu Mark Innovations in its acquisition by Altria Group, and going on to serve as its Head of Legal and CCO.
• Managing legal support for Goldfish Card Services Limited’s insurance and personal loan cross-sales projects.
• Conducting a comprehensive review of TXU Energi’s standard form energy supply agreements, resulting in agreements which were up to date, streamlined and easier to negotiate.
• Developing a GDPR compliance programme for a major fast-food chain.

Jane is an innovative commercial/projects lawyer with experience in both private and public sector in the UK and the Middle East and previously a partner at Wragge & Co (now Gowlings) for many years.

With strong commercial acumen and proven legal track record in complex arrangements, the hallmark of Jane’s experience is innovation. The transactions she led were often strategic, complex and highly sensitive projects which were legal firsts with no real precedent and advice included liaising with key commercial stakeholders.

She is Executive Vice-Chair of Lawyers for Net Zero, an inspiring non-profit with a mission to raise the profile of net zero across the legal sector and to support General Counsel and their teams of in-house lawyers to take climate and ESG leadership.

She offers a unique combination of legal skills and consulting experience to act as a ‘bridgebuilder’ between Conexus and its clients to facilitate the co-creation of climate-friendly innovative solutions and appropriate climate and ESG risk management and governance systems.

Career Highlights

• Led the team awarded “Stand Out” status in the FT Innovation Awards for Lawyers for the UK’s flagship project for the Royal Navy – the multi-billion pound aircraft carriers procurement.
• Provided inhouse support for an innovative petfood start up focused on reducing the environmental impact of pet food including advising on several mission critical strategic partnering arrangements with key suppliers and on the protection of the company’s intellectual property.
• Advised the UK Department of Health and various Acute Hospital Trusts/Primary Care Trusts on various multi-million pound Independent Sector Treatment Centre projects.
• Delivered a wide range of commercial, outsourcing and procurement advice for a wide range of organisations including Wickes, British Airways, Forensic Science Services and Dunlop Standard Aerospace.

Nancy Lamb is a leading expert in data centre construction contracts and dispute resolution. Nancy is known for her straight-talking, no-nonsense approach. Nancy started her career as a construction solicitor at international law firms Pinsent Masons LLP and Hill Dickinson LLP, in the UK and the Middle East before immersing herself into the data centre sector working for both contractors and clients. Nancy also works in the pharmaceutical and residential and commercial property sectors. Nancy is the lead consultant on the Conexus Law collaborative contracting service.

Career Highlights

• Senior project manager for a data centre developer and operator to deliver a state of the art 32MW data centre in London
• Mission critical design and construction agreements for various facilities across the UK, including transforming an old engine room at a sewage plant into a data centre
• Early resolution of a data centre delay dispute in relation to a 20MW facility
• Providing in house support to an international organisation starting, growing and leading their UK contracts team

Earle is a specialist construction and engineering lawyer with over 17 years’ experience.

He advises clients across many sectors including technology, telecoms, energy, real estate, sports and leisure, rail and education on commercial matters, contract procurement, on engineering and construction works, as well as carrying out due diligence on corporate and property transactions and working as part of larger teams on multi-disciplinary projects.

He provides a full service in relation to the delivery of a project from procurement advice, the appointment of consultants and advising on risk allocation, to drafting and negotiating the documents for the delivery of the project.

Earle also provides training to in-house clients on contract procurement, risk management and dispute management.

His clients include energy contractors, English football clubs, international logistics companies, large outsourcing companies, manufacturers, developers, sub-contractors, hotel operators, banks in their capacity both as lenders and for their own estates, and regional transport executives.

Career Highlights

• Advising Fulham Football Club since 2011 on their stadium expansion plans, the key element of which is on site currently.
• Advising Liverpool Football Club over a period of 10 years on multiple iterations of their plans for new stadia and expansion of their existing stadium culmination in the delivery of their new Main Stand project.
• Providing in house legal support to a large building products manufacturer and its energy contracting arm including managing the external legal panel, reporting to the directors on significant projects, developing reporting structures, drafting and negotiating EPC Solar, Biomass and Wind Turbine contracts, Power Purchase Agreements, Corporate SPAs, O&M Contracts, Product Guarantees, Licence Agreements and advise on dispute management across UK, Europe, USA, Middle East and Australasia.
• Advising on the construction of data centre facilities in the UK, France and the Netherlands.

Ed is an international lawyer, a commercial advisor  and a skilled negotiator. His career started as a construction lawyer, and he has vast experience of helping clients to finance, procure, and deliver real estate developments and infrastructure for transport, energy and telecoms.

He is a recognised expert in critical Technology Infrastructure (data centres, fibre, “Smart Cities” and the like) and in this sector he also advises on an array of commercial arrangements including funding arrangements, customer contracts, SLAs, technology contracts and other contractual provisions.

He  has previously been a partner in international law firms DLA Piper and Bird & Bird, enabling client teams to deliver some of the biggest and most challenging projects.

Ed has worked on construction projects involving different types of assets: ranging from luxury hotels, high-end retail stores  and residential developments through to energy and transport projects, and healthcare provision. Ed has also worked on a significant number of technical engineering projects, including road, rail upgrade projects, wind turbines, solar power projects  and data centres.

Career Highlights

• Mission critical design and construction agreements (mission critical projects, where the financial, human, reputational, or other consequences of a facility failure or a delay in completion would be significant. Ed believes that you cannot work out the risks a contract needs to manage without understanding the underlying technology and construction methods).
• Acting for the Olympic Delivery Authority on their £9.4bn programme including: procurement of master plan design for Olympic Park, procurement of design and construction of Zaha Hadid designed Aquatics Centre, procurement of other sports venues such as basketball arena, hockey, BMX, water polo; and procurement of International Broadcast Centre and Main Press Centre (IBC/ MPC).
• Acting for Agility Trains in respect of their contracts for the £12bn Intercity Express Programme for the upgrade of rolling stock and infrastructure on the East Coast Mainline and Great Western Railways.
• Data centre co-location agreements (negotiating co-location and related agreements with customers). Agreements typically include service level requirements for power, cooling, humidity, connectivity, security, and other requirements.

Emma is a commercial real estate lawyer, assisting clients in the acquisition, finance, management and sale of core and specialist real estate assets, both in the UK and overseas.

Added to this she has specialist experience of the data centre, real estate finance and renewable energy sectors.

Emma’s spent her earlier career at international law firm Eversheds and then US firm Mayer Brown before holding senior lawyer roles at both Bird & Bird and Locke Lord.

Career Highlights

• Over a decade’s worth of experience acting for data centre industry clients, advising during both the negotiation and legal transaction phases of securing space in data centres to create global networks spanning multiple jurisdictions – Emma has worked with clients and lawyers in 30 plus jurisdictions around the world.
• Broad real estate finance experience, acting for both lenders and borrowers on a range of financing transactions from new lending, to refinancing and restructuring, including for distressed debt. Emma spent 9 months seconded to The Royal Bank of Scotland during the GFC.
• Acting for landlords and tenants across the retail, industrial and office sectors, most notably advising on the letting and management of various high-profile central London estates and high value properties.
• Lead real estate lawyer on numerous corporate-real estate transactions advising corporate colleagues and their clients on all aspects of corporate transactions involving property assets.
• Specialist experience in transactions involving renewable energy assets (solar farm and wind turbine sites) including sales and acquisitions, funding and leasing.

Gavin is a construction lawyer, strategy advisor and technology enthusiast.

He advises Built Environment Technology start-ups on business growth, regulatory, finance and investment, and technology issues. He is a member of the Policy Advisory Committee for the Construction Blockchain Consortium at University College London, advising on policy development for blockchain technologies.

Gavin regularly speaks at national and international built environment technology conferences and is an advocate for technological development and the implementation of efficient systems.

As a solicitor with extensive experience in construction law, he advises clients across several sectors of the built environment, including healthcare, education, real estate, energy, utilities and infrastructure. Gavin also specialises in contentious matters, in-project dispute avoidance and resolution, as well as project completion and legacy.

He has worked in senior positions in several leading law firms, as a consultant to LPOs and technology start-ups. He trained at the global engineering firm Arup.

Before coming to the law, Gavin studied engineering and combustion science and completed a PhD in Applied Chemistry and Instrumentation.

Career Highlights

• Sole counsel supporting of a private medical company client to successfully deliver a new multi-million-pound private hospital under adverse circumstances and the collapse of the main contractor mid-project.
• Advising several Built Environment Technology start-ups with significant growth potential on opportunities, business structures, execution strategies and early stage/seed funding.
• Design, development and implementation of several technology platform solutions for law, private equity, and investment firms leading to significant operational time and costs savings, data quality and reporting improvements, and new business opportunity identification.

Ian is a specialist dispute resolution and commercial litigation lawyer.

He  brings with him nearly 30 years’ experience  (20 years as a partner in City law firms) including acting for long standing technology clients in the following sectors: data centres, document management, telephony, car parking and young driver insurance.

​Ian was formerly a partner at Speechly Bircham. Between 2011 and 2014, he was the Group Legal Director for a property development and leisure group comprising circa 40 companies and was based in Guernsey.

Thorough, practical and commercial, having led an in-house legal function, Ian understands the challenges faced by clients and the legal advice required by them so that they can focus on their businesses.

He has been a CEDR Accredited Mediator since 2000.

Ian is also an accomplished sports lawyer, with particular and significant experience in the world of motorsport, advising in respect of disputes and putting in place a myriad of commercial contracts in that sector.

Career highlights:

• Recovery of £21M from FTSE 100 construction company and extinguishment of their £10.5M counterclaim in respect of a mixed retail and residential development.
• Defending a Plc oil and gas company on a €20M joint venture claim against it in arbitration and Court proceedings.
• Acting in numerous shareholder disputes.
• Advising numerous drivers, driver management companies and circuits on commercial agreements.
• Representing a F1 driver at a FIA Contracts Recognition Board Hearing.
• Advising a food company on a licensing agreement with David Beckham.

Phil has over 15 years experience as a lawyer working in the technology sector.  His clients include data centres, telecommunications providers, software developers and platform providers and their customers.

Phil has put cloud and software platforms into some of the biggest global brands, and advised on telecommunications systems arrangements within the nuclear sector and consumer-facing technology providers.

As well as advising clients in a traditional sense, Phil is also heavily involved in training, and regularly trains lawyers, businesses and students on both the law and technology.

Phil has previously worked in large national and regional law firms, as well as in-house within a global technology company.

Career Highlights

• Software platform delivery into financial services institutions, global accountancy and consulting practices and law firms.
• Telecommunications delivery into nuclear power stations.
• Acting for a software platform provider on roll-out of their proprietary platform to three of the five biggest manufacturers globally within their target sector.