Slaughter and May‘s team advises across all areas of tech, including fintech and emerging tech, cybersecurity, crypto and data centres. Duncan Blaikie, who advises tech clients on strategic tech and telecoms procurement and licensing arrangements, leads the team alongside James Cook, Jordan Ellison, Laura Houston, David Ives, and Simon Bartle, who are are key figures across IT. IT matters the team frequently handles range from contractual to transactional mandates , including joint ventures, M&A and sourcing transactions. Non-contentious work also includes advising on regulatory matters in domestic, EU, and global contexts. Digital regulation is an area of expertise of key practitioner Will Manley, who assists clients with a wide variety of AI matters, including advising on the including EU AI Act. Ian Ranson is key for IT disputes. Former practice head Rob Sumroy retired from the partnership in December 2025.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
Accolades
Client satisfaction: Lawyer & team quality
Client satisfaction: Sector knowledge
Key clients
- Arm
- Dojo
- Equinix
- Meta
- Monzo
- Netflix
- NewDay
- Oracle
- Robinhood
- RWS
- SEGRO
- Sidequest
- Softcat
- Spotify
- Vodafone
Work highlights
Advised Google on a range of high-profile competition and regulatory matters in the UK, EU and globally.
Advised Vodafone Group Plc on all aspects of the proposed merger of Vodafone Limited and Hutchison 3G UK Limited including the drafting and negotiation of multiple long-term strategic IT and outsourced services arrangements that will provide business critical, and business generating, services to the merged business.
Advised Arm on the separation and sale to Cadence Design Systems, Inc. of its “Physical IP Products” business, which consists of Arm’s development and licensing of standard cell libraries, memory compilers and general-purpose I/Os (GPIOs).
Lawyers
Leading partners: IT
The strongest partners in their field, leading on market-leading deals and endorsed by peers and clients alike.
Next Generation Partners
Junior partners with significant recognition from clients and peers in the market and key roles on multiple matters.
Leading associates
Leading associates with regular involvement in their team's key work, and recognition from peers or clients as being ones to watch.
Ian Ranson
Practice head
Duncan Blaikie; James Cook; Jordan Ellison; Laura Houston; David Ives; Simon Bartle
Other key lawyers
Will Manley; Ian Ranson; Matthew Harman