Neal Gerber Eisenberg’s Technology Transactions & Services Practice Group serves a wide variety of buyers, sellers, licensors and licensees of software, hardware, data and services. Every day, our dedicated group of attorneys advises on, drafts and negotiates complex technology agreements for clients in many different industries.
Our extensive experience in technology contracting enables us to quickly identify transactional benefits and risks for our clients, craft strategies to realize such benefits and overcome such risks, and close deals within tight budgets and timetables.
Because we work on such a high volume of transactions in a mix of different industries, we remain thoroughly informed and up-to-date on rapidly evolving market standards. By analyzing each client’s risk profile and understanding the dynamics of each transaction, we help our clients effectively prioritize issues during negotiations.
Our technology transactions group has represented clients across a wide spectrum of industries, and has particularly deep experience in the financial services, health care, transportation, hospitality, online travel and online retail sectors. We are attuned to industry-specific contract issues, and regularly counsel our clients on how to address risks associated with implementation and integration, acceptance testing, system configuration, service level agreements, transition planning, and other common areas of exposure.
Our attorneys understand how technology aligns with business strategy and effectively speak the language of both the technical and business sides of our clients’ organizations. We quickly comprehend our clients’ technology strategy and can clearly identify and explain the complex legal and business implications of a transaction for decision makers across an organization. This allows us to serve as a bridge between our clients’ legal and business/technical teams, thereby achieving better results.
In 2011, Chambers USA named Neal Gerber Eisenberg as a recommended law firm in the area of “Technology & IT Outsourcing,” and the firm was also ranked as one of U.S. News-Best Lawyers’ “Best Law Firms” for Information Technology Law.
Areas in which our technology transactions team has many years of experience include:
- Software and Data Licensing – We counsel both licensors and licensees of software and data products to address relevant issues, such as software customization and configuration, data privacy and security, acceptance testing, implementation and training.
- System Development and Integration – We are knowledgeable in a wide range of advanced development and integration arrangements, including application programming interfaces (APIs), Web site and mobile application development, wireless technology and enterprise applications.
- Cloud Computing and Software-as-a-Service – We routinely draft and negotiate cloud computing and SaaS agreements, with a particular focus on issues that are uniquely critical in this context, including data security and confidentiality concerns, the handling of personally identifiable information, and availability and response time service levels.
- Privacy and Data Security – We counsel clients with respect to issues and concerns relating to security, confidentiality, privacy and data protection, including those related to Web site privacy policies, data breach notification laws, HIPAA, the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, and the FTC’s Red Flags rule.
- Global Sourcing – We have negotiated a wide variety of domestic and international outsourcing transactions, including the sourcing of everything from specific functional areas or business processes to entire IT and customer care operations. We advise numerous clients on service level arrangements, pricing methodologies, business continuity strategies, IP ownership and other key components of sourcing transactions.
- Electronic Trading Agreements and Alternative Trading Systems – We have drafted and negotiated many agreements to enable electronic connectivity for securities trading on a number of different trading platforms.
- Data Center Operations – We assist customers of co-location services in protecting their assets and functionality in a hosted environment. We have also advised providers on the development and implementation of data centers.
- Data Transmission and Telecommunications Infrastructure – We have negotiated multiple agreements with domestic and international providers in connection with the procurement and implementation of telecommunication circuits, including fiber optic lease agreements and secure networking and messaging arrangements.
- Open Source – We assist our clients in developing open source policies and strategies, and we have participated in comprehensive open source software analyses to assess clients’ own software assets and the assets of potential acquisition targets.