William Fry LLP continues to act for some of the world’s largest technology and social media companies, advising them on regulatory requirements, data protection mandates, and other implications of Irish and EU legislation. The practice is led by David Cullen, who has significant expertise in contractual matters related to the design, development and delivery of large-scale IT projects. Leo Moore and John O’Connor are go-to lawyers for domestic and international clients looking for advice on outsourcing transactions, GDPR matters, and cyber security law. Other key contacts include David Kirton, Rachel Hayes, and AI law expert Barry Scannell.

Legal 500 Editorial commentary

Testimonials

Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.

  • ‘William Fry is like an extension of our very own team. Available on request, timely and accurate in their advice and most of all understanding of our needs. Personal and commercial in their approach to legal challenges presented by contract negotiation.’
  • ‘Barry Scannell has been influential in the success of our team. Measured and innovative in his approach to legal challenges and generous in his sharing of advice and knowledge transfer.’
  • ‘The technology team at William Fry has a deep knowledge of privacy, commercial, outsourcing and intellectual property issues facing businesses operating domestically and internationally. The team are collaborative and always aim to understand client issues and concerns and provide commercially savvy advice and planning. As well as this, the team are approachable, focused and engaged on client matters from ad hoc queries to larger-scale work.’
  • ‘David Kirton is an exceptional advisor with a rare ability to spot, distil and explain complex legal and commercial issues and provide creative, practical solutions to clients. David's approach is focused and always responsive.’
  • ‘The William Fry technology group is the foremost in the jurisdiction.’
  • ‘John O'Connor is a leader in data protection and IT. His approach is focused yet flexible. John always provides pragmatic, commercially and legally sound advice on IT law issues.’
  • ‘The IT team are very knowledgeable about the market and very up to speed with tech issues. They give clear commercial advice and have a very good understanding of what the client needs.’
  • ‘David Kirton is excellent, gets stuck in and is enthusiastic about his work, which shows in his commitment to each matter he is instructed on. He is very commercial and in tune with client priorities.’

Key clients

  • Deliveroo
  • Nintendo
  • Tines
  • ConsenSys
  • Saol Assurance (joint venture of AIB and Irish Life )
  • PrepayPower
  • Skyscanner
  • iCabbi (Renault Group)
  • Department for the Environment, Climate and Communications
  • UKG Inc
  • LinkedIn

Work highlights

  • Advised the DECC on the roll-out of the National Broadband Plan.
  • Advised Deliveroo on a wide range of legal technology matters, including the unique aspects of new product offerings and food platform issues at the intersection of tech, IP and data.
  • Represented Skyscanner in Commercial Court proceedings brought by Ryanair.

Lawyers

Hall of Fame
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Hall of fameWilliam Fry LLP
David Cullen is a Partner in William Fry’s Technology Group, specialising in complex technology matters and the strategic protection and development of intellectual property. His extensive experience covers outsourcing, cloud computing, personality rights, data protection, biotechnology, and electronic commerce.
Leading partners
The strongest partners in their field, leading on market-leading deals and endorsed by peers and clients alike.
William Fry LLP
Leo is a Partner in the William Fry Technology Group, specialising in information technology (including e-commerce), data protection, intellectual property and commercial law. As part of his practice Leo advises on IT and business process outsourcing, software licensing and development, Internet of Things, apps and smart technology, e-commerce, cloud computing, systems integration, FinTech, strategic legal due diligence and on sports related matters. A regular contributor of articles to publications, Leo has also participated in lecture programmes on data protection, commercial law and intellectual property. He is a lecturer on the Law Society’s Diploma Programme and its Professional Practice.
William Fry LLP
John is a Partner in William Fry’s Technology Group, the most experienced technology law team in the Irish market. He specialises in complex and large scale technology and outsourcing transactions including systems integration and implementation arrangements, licensing, IT and business process outsourcings and cloud services. John is also a specialist in the area of privacy, data protection and cyber security law and advises on general compliance, data transfers, hosting, issue management and best practice. He has gained particular experience of advising technology, life sciences and financial services organisations on major outsourcings and on ‘big data’ projects including the procurement and deployment of FinTech. 

Practice head

The lawyer(s) leading their teams.

David Cullen

Other key lawyers

Leo Moore, John O'Connor, Rachel Hayes, Barry Scannell, David Kirton