Paul has 30 years’ experience as a commercial lawyer, particularly in national and international IT and communications projects. He routinely assists clients with complex contract drafting and deal closure on both sales and supply chain projects, as well as providing broad-ranging regulatory and compliance advice.
Paul’s practice is strengthened by years of in-house experience supporting RACAL’s telecommunications division and the network services and B2B/carrier divisions at NTL Inc. (now Virgin Media) with particular responsibility for NTL’s then emergent mobile division. He has also provided retained virtual in-house counsel support to a diverse spectrum of entities, such as global IT service providers, a global US silicon wafer/laser/optics corporation, a global transport research consultancy, a German IT security and card perso business, a golf products distributor and marketing business, network incumbents in north and east Africa, a major utility company and a UK bank.
Paul understands business which makes it easier and quicker to get to a commercial agreement contracted in the shortest amount of time possible.
Roger Wolfe, Director, Yumax Group
Trustworthy, extremely professional and most important, a business-oriented lawyer who considered both legal and commercial issues when tackling the different problems that came up.
Federico Ponelli, former in-house counsel, Giesecke & Devrient GB
Paul identified the commercial impact of key regulatory changes well in advance of other counsel and helped develop practical legal solutions. He was an asset to the team.
Nina Barakzai, former Group Compliance Officer at NTL Inc Currently Director, Data Governance, Office of the Data Protection Officer at Meta
Paul quickly grasped the business and its technicalities to provide timely and excellent business-related advice, in a very easy-to-understand way.
Andrew Hendersen, former Sales Director Giesecke & Devrient GB
Paul is a great team player who brings innovation in resolution of issues and problems in a deal or a contract. As a flexible resource that you can turn on or off as required, he is someone I will use again.
Graeme Sloan, former Director of Contracts and Governance, Siemens IT
Expertise
- IT and communications projects and tenders
- Contract drafting – procurement and sales side, outsourcing, agency and distribution and standard terms of business
- Regulatory and compliance advice
- Legal research and legal/commercial awareness training
- Pre-action commercial dispute resolution
- Joint ventures and collaborations
- Whole of life contract management
Experience
Telecoms
- Lead lawyer on 3G mobile auction and MVNO negotiations for NTL Inc and JV with France Telecom.
- Concluded a portfolio of Global Frame Purchase Agreement for switching and other network equipment for NTL Inc.
- Concluded a large portfolio of interconnection agreements for NTL Inc.
- Successfully negotiated a national telecoms outsourcing agreement for a provider to a global chemicals corporation.
- Negotiations on PEACEMED cable system supply and support agreement for North African incumbent.
- Successful conclusion of 2Africa Consortium Fronthaul and Cable Landing Agreement for East African incumbent.
- Successful conclusion of PEACE Branch Supply and IRU Agreements for East African incumbent.
- Advised on Pan-European Fibre/minute swap agreement between carriers.
- Drafted a software licence agreement for telecoms network management software.
Information Technology
- Development of Contract Principles and IT services and Framework Agreement templates for tendering process for a UK energy utility.
- Successful conclusion of £20m+ IT Services contract for a global shoe manufacturer.
- Negotiations on IT Services MSA under Vodafone’s procurement company, VPC.
- Various IT services agreements to local authorities under G-Cloud Frameworks for Global IT service provider.
- Successful conclusion of £50m+ IT services agreement to a major regulated financial services provider.
- Acted on a £5m tri-partite government-funded collaboration project to build and operate a road research.
- Advised on a car crash test track outsource services agreement for an international road research consultancy.
- Protracted but ultimately successful challenge on behalf of a car number plate manufacturer to an allegation of patent infringement by a dominant supplier of reflective.
Fintech and Financial Services
- Represented numerous bank card supply and perso agreements and framework supply agreements in the financial services sector, acting as virtual in-house counsel for over a decade.
- Advised on a consortium subcontract for provision of smartcards to an HMG
- Drafted a smartcard services agreement with a mobile phone operator and a global frame purchase agreement for SIM card.
- Produced a framework agreement for software development and maintenance and supply of bank note sorting machines to a national security firm.
- Acted on a long-term project managing portfolio of wholesale B2B agreements for a UK regulated bank in the UK and Ireland.
- Advised on a restructuring project for MSA and SoWs for software development and licensing of credit decision making software for a UK regulated bank.
Career
Paul qualified as a solicitor in 1993. Prior to joining Keystone Law in 2022, he worked at the following organisations:
- ViHPS Limited
- Contract Toolkit Limited
- Field Seymour Parkes LLP
- Coffin Mew LLP
- NTL Inc
- RACAL