Data Centres and Technology Infrastructure Legal Services

Data centres are a strategic asset class, essential to almost everything we do, and require specialist knowledge and skills throughout the whole lifecycle of a business: from land acquisition, funding, planning, energy, development, operation, data protection, data location and sovereignty, standards and information security to sale and exit.

We are one of the few law firms able to provide international integrated legal services with a specific sector focus on data centres and technology infrastructure, including managed services and cloud services.

We are deebly embedded in the technology sector on an international scale, which allows us to offer an informed legal service that  accounts for the operation of IT infrastructure, including the business risks inherent in the hosted environment and the measures necessary for ensuring continuity of service and security of information. This expert understanding informs our commercial advice on outsourcing, as well as on cloud-based services such as software as a service (SaaS), platform as a service (PaaS) and infrastructure as a service (IaaS).

Data centre models are constantly evolving to more flexible occupations models driven by the hyperscale technology giants. We have a strong track record acting for national and international operators who negotiate with enterprise and hyperscale customers. M&A is also a strong feature of the market, and we have been involved in some of the most significant investments and transactions in recent times, supported by expert commercial due diligence teams. We also offer highly specialised environmental, health and safety, facilities management, data protection and information security, employment, and tax advice to support core operations; and have a strong banking practice for lenders and borrowers in the sector.

Our integrated approach builds in industry good practice and dispute avoidance. We cover compliance and risk management including audit and implementation projects, due diligence, cross border data flows, outsourcing, information and technology security. Our deep understanding of the sector on an international scale helps us advise you and facilitate negotiations, using innovative negotiation techniques, including building robust contracts with a strong emphasis on effective corporate governance. Moreover, our leading real estate & construction team can support those developing, letting, or fitting out a data centre: from the planning process andfuture legislative implications around sustainability to security of tenure, physical access and step-in rights. The strength of our international data centre and technology infrastructure expertise enables us to  engage with you more directly and provide strategic advice on the risks in managed services, cloud and technology infrastructure transactions.