Partner Article

Fieldfisher Manchester tech team lay out growth strategy

The Technology Outsourcing and Privacy team at Fieldfisher’s Manchester office is looking to recruit more talented lawyers after growing headcount to five from zero in less than two years.

Expansion is on the cards after the team recently carried out client work for organisations including the BBC, Pearson, Citigroup and Accenture.

Sam Jardine, Partner in the Technology Outsourcing and Privacy team at Fieldfisher’s Manchester office, said they have advised on technology and data issues such as robotic process automation software implementations, the impact of AI, the use of drones, cloud-based ERP implementation projects, data migrations, GDPR readiness programmes, data security breaches and complex subject access requests.

He said: “Fieldfisher has made a real push into Manchester recently and we are on the lookout for more quality hires after growing the specialist tech team from zero to five inside 24 months.

“The quality of the Fieldfisher brand, and the strong ‘tech DNA’ of the firm, means that we only hire the very best in class across all our offices.”

Sam also said clients are grappling with more challenges than ever in the fast-evolving world of technology.

“In just over a year’s time the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) comes into force. The increased fines – Euros 20million or 4% of global turnover (whichever is highest) – for compliance failures mean data protection focus is now a standing Board level agenda item for sophisticated clients,” said Sam.

“AI, robotics and other automation issues are themes that clients are confronting right now. Saying that, big data and the Internet of Things continue to dominate clients’ thinking. And there is the continuing wholesale movement of legacy systems into the cloud.”

Sam also alluded to the sheer volume of new tech companies exploding onto the Manchester market.

“Digital tech ‘birth rates’ is a measure of new companies as a proportion of all businesses in the region. In Manchester, the figure is 15.6%.

“The city region is flying right now, and is the fourth largest tech cluster in the UK and is worth £2.9bn to the economy.

“On top of this, 28% of the 50 fastest growing digital tech companies in the north are located in Manchester, according to GP Bullhound research.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Emily Hallinan .