Team size: Two

What are some of the legal challenges that telecommunication companies face in the development and use of emerging technologies in their products?

The main challenges are marrying the rapid development of products with full compliance of the ever evolving legislative and regulatory landscape. The law is struggling to keep up with technology. Developing advanced technology in innovative and fast-changing environments, it is almost impossible to define with enough specificity to allow the lengthy regulatory process to run its course. Given the extraordinarily fast development of technology and its products, it is intractable for lawyers and lawmakers to predict new technologies before they emerge. Thus, the law is forced to play catch up after the fact.

In what ways do you see the in-house legal role evolving in your region over the next few years?

Technology competency has been more and more emphasised for the in-house legal roles in Ireland. Legal technology can help in-house legal counsel to function beyond their current capacity and budget while allowing them to effectively manage time and reduce the cost of contract complexity. In the modern in-house industry, a corporate legal team will be expected to have great legal knowledge, drafting and negation skills, in tandem with related technology skills including but not limited to new contract management technology to ensure smoother and quicker contract negotiation timelines.

What are the most significant cases and/or transactions that your legal team has recently been involved in?

The Huawei Ireland legal team has been involved in a range of fascinating and complex cases and transactions. Firstly, in partnership with K2, Huawei built state of the art date centres in Ireland using our cutting-edge data centre cooling unit technology. Secondly, we supplied our products to SIRO to further the rollout of a high-speed broadband network in Ireland. Thirdly, the contractual engagement between Huawei and Eir, involving the supply of software, hardware and services provided by us, drove the transformation of Eir’s mobile network and assisted them in offering the best coverage and connectivity to its Irish customers. Fourthly, multiple research and development projects have been conducted by a range of top Irish universities to support technology development of Huawei’s wearables and new operating system Harmony OS. They increased connectivity and enhanced providing features for consumers to connect all their devices with wearable. Lastly, given the expansion of Statkraft in Ireland, Huawei has expanded provision of renewable technology such as solar inventers and digital power products to further the giant of renewable energy.