Sourcing & Information Technology

Related Professionals

Overview

Kirkland & Ellis is an excellent firm in the outsourcing area. - Chambers USA, 2023
We have one of the largest, most experienced sourcing and complex information technology transactions practices of any firm worldwide. With more than 80 lawyers from various disciplines supporting our multi-disciplinary approach to these matters, we have the breadth and depth of experience at all levels to be responsive to multiple transactions of varied complexity. Our attorneys have represented both customers and service providers in matters involving manufacturing, financial services, utilities, consumer products, pharmaceuticals, oil and gas, mining, technology and other industries as these companies undertake strategic sourcing initiatives. Our experience covers the full range of information technology outsourcing (ITO) and business process outsourcing (BPO), including strategies around digital transformations and transitions to as-a-service models.

Our attorneys are skilled at systematically working to identify gaps between the parties’ positions, and narrowing down issues and finding creative solutions where the parties reach an impasse. In all matters, we take a thoughtful, systematic approach, which provides for a better, more efficient, more reasoned negotiation process.
Kirkland Guides Health Insurer Through BPO
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Experience

With more than 35 years of IT outsourcing experience, our attorneys have negotiated agreements covering the panoply of IT-related and IT-enabled functions, including data center operations, applications development and maintenance, applications hosting and management, desktop, help desk, and network services and management. Our lawyers have extensive experience counseling clients across a broad spectrum of technologies, products and services, and industries, including emerging and new digital market offerings, software and data providers, social network companies, IT security solutions, networking solutions and data protection products. We are also experienced at handling matters related to areas of artificial intelligence, such as machine learning, cognitive automation, robotic process automation and cognitive computing. In addition, we have advised clients on a range of matters involving software licensing, delivery models and cloud computing, including on Software as a Service, Infrastructure as a Service, and Platform as a Service bases.
Our business process outsourcing experience includes processes such as human resources and benefits administration, finance and accounting, billing, procurement, real estate, tax, legal, R&D, engineering services, call center, logistics and e-learning among others. We have also handled many contract manufacturing, tolling, supply chain management and related types of manufacturing sourcing agreements. For all of these types of outsourcings, our experience has included onshore, offshore and nearshore outsourcings.

Within our sourcing and information technology transactions practices, we concentrate on domestic and international business transactions that are driven by the acquisition, divestiture or use of rights in, or enabled by, IT. We have handled IT transactions that cover all aspects of IT procurement, including system purchases and leases, ERP and other large system integration projects, software licensing, hardware maintenance, software development and maintenance, consulting and other services, EDI, and web-based agreements, telecommunications (including voice, data, video and managed network), and web hosting services. We have negotiated worldwide distribution, representative, VAR and OEM arrangements for IT products. In addition, we have acted across the full range of e-commerce projects for clients in wide-ranging industries.

In addition to industry knowledge and technical experience, our Firm also brings to bear knowledge of antitrust and competition, telecommunications and regulatory and administrative law as needed.

Our client base in the IT field is highly diverse. We represent both the users and the providers of content, data, software, systems, hardware and services as well as a client base from international financial institutions and corporations to start ups and technology developers. Our attorneys view these often critical business arrangements from all perspectives and fully understand the needs of the parties to an arrangement in this complex field.

Our sourcing and information technology transactions attorneys, along with our attorneys focused on mergers and acquisitions, have handled numerous transactions on behalf of or involving service companies. These deals include mergers, acquisitions, purchases of stock or majority interests, sales of companies or assets, and equity investments, among other types of transactions. We have also handled the disengagement and subsequent replacement of IT infrastructures in numerous M&A transactions.
In addition to our extensive experience with sourcing and information technology transactions, we have helped clients restructure, or disengage from, existing service agreements and advised regarding dispute resolution and litigation. We have litigated many IT-related cases, including disputes involving failed computer systems, disputes over outsourcing arrangements, trade secret cases in the context of hardware and software development, antitrust and regulatory issues relating to Internet and other network access, and a range of patent cases from business method and software claims through to litigation over routers and memory systems. This combination provides us unparalleled industry experience, knowledge and insight, which we bring to bear in our representation of clients.
In addition to transactions, we counsel clients on a host of issues relating to all aspects of information technology ranging from “clean room” development initiatives through business method patents and other forms of intellectual property protection to regulation of e-commerce and consumer privacy.

We have particular experience in the areas of computer security and crime and our group includes lawyers with prior government backgrounds in this field.

Leading Firm for Technology: Outsourcing

The Legal 500 United States, 2023

Tier 1 in Technology Law

“Best Law Firms,” U.S. News and World Report and Best Lawyers, 2023

Named One of "The World's Best Outsourcing Advisors"

"The Global Outsourcing 100™," International Association of Outsourcing Professionals™ (IAOP™), 2009–2023

Practices