Freeths LLP

With over 25 years’ experience, Mark is a nationally recognised lawyer specialising in technology, regulatory, business strategy and risk related issues. Mark has carved out a reputation for reducing complex legal and regulatory problems to easily digestible practical solutions.

Mark’s breadth of knowledge and problem solving capability is recognised in the Legal 500 directory, Mark is recommended in respect of four related areas of practice; IT, Regulatory, Dispute Resolution and Commercial and is described as being "trusted implicitly by clients for his positive and calm manner that is truly unflappable and brings an almost therapeutic quality to his advice".

Mark leads and links our IT capability across different areas of the firm, from technology contracts and data protection to regulatory compliance and dispute resolution.

With detailed knowledge of business continuity, risk management and crisis response planning, Mark is a key advisor in helping clients understand and meet legal risk and regulatory requirements.

Mark is one of the first people to contact in a regulatory investigation or crisis and a key experienced person in assisting clients to take a controlled and effective approach to particularly sensitive or urgent matters.

Recent work includes advising:

• A national money services business on regulatory compliance, information governance risk and dispute management;
• Global travel services businesses on travel technology agreements, underpinning GDS and service provider arrangements and information governance;
• Risk, compliance and crisis response training for process industry clients;
• A large national payment card provider on technology, FCA payment services regulation and data protection matters;
• A national security technology provider on urgent regulatory engagement.

Mark has extensive knowledge and experience in:

• Crisis management for regulated businesses;
• Digital trading and competition compliance;
• Travel technology;
• Information governance and data breach management;
• Technology based regulated financial and insurance services;
• Regulatory and legal risk prioritisation, providing simple and effective guidance and training to assist organisations’ build-up and continue to support their internal legal risk, regulatory and contract management capability;
• Resolving issues relating to delayed or failing IT, technology and services projects, managing effective dispute resolution with an emphasis on early dispute avoidance and intervention, quietly closing down problems before they get out of control.

Mark is also acknowledged as “an excellent and pragmatic negotiator”; one leading Counsel has commented that Mark was “the best negotiator” he knew.

Mark was named 'Data Protection Lawyer of the Year' at the Finance Monthly FinTech Awards 2017 for his work with complex regulated financial services businesses and their information governance projects.

Mark also holds an LLM in Business Law as a second degree and is a national board trustee of the Society for Computers and Law as well as a member of the Law Society Competition Section and the disciplinary committee of the Business Continuity Institute.