Sidley Austin LLP

Partner
Head of TMT

Clive is an international-facing contentious and transactional technology lawyer working with Global 100 companies. Clive is trusted by these companies on high-stake matters ranging from first‑of‑a‑kind litigation to billion dollar technology-rich cross-border transactions. He is particularly experienced representing very large tech companies in regulatory investigations and litigation. He has also acted for businesses on hundreds of internet threats actions including spam, phishing, tech support fraud, and business email compromise.

Clive is rated as providing fast, pragmatic advice with a good UI. He is the only lawyer ever to receive Microsoft’s Law Firm Leader award. He is also a well-respected commentator: his book, Gringras: The Laws of the Internet, now in sixth edition, is the only UK judicially-acclaimed text on the subject. He is on the Editorial Board of Westlaw’s Computer & Telecommunications Law Review. Clive co-wrote the best-selling computer game, Elite, for the ARM-based computer, the Archimedes.

Clive has been called to give evidence to four UK Parliamentary Inquiries on spam, information security, AI and regulation of the Internet. He is a visiting Scholar at the University of Sheffield and has held appointments as a Visiting Professor at the University of Law, and as a Visiting Associate at Oxford University’s Internet Institute.

One of only seven lawyers in Legal 500’s Hall of Fame for Technology, Media and Telecoms (2024). One of only twelve lawyers in Chambers Global Market Leaders in Artificial Intelligence. (2024) Best Lawyers awarded Clive, its Technology Lawyer of the Year for 2021 in London and he is one of their eight London IT & Tech Best Lawyers (2025). Euromoney’s Expert Guides counts Clive as one of its five UK Best of the Best UK IT lawyers.

Chair of Technology Advisory Board, Our Future Health Trustee, Alzheimer's Research UK Founding Editorial Board Member, Computer and Telecommunications Law Review, Sweet & Maxwell Visiting Scholar, University of Sheffield Visiting Professor, University of Law (Former) Visiting Associate, Oxford University’s Internet Institute (Former)

Magister Juris, St John’s College, Oxford University LLB (Hons), University of Sheffield