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Calypso Technology’s acquisition by private equity firms Bridgepoint and Summit Partners in 2016 was perhaps the most prominent project undertaken by its lean and extremely effective legal department recently, though legal director Oliver Hengeler explains that this was just the start of a series of accomplishments by the team since then: ‘Last year we acquired a minority stake in Sernova Financial, and also played a key role in conjunction with the cloud team on the company’s ISO 27001 information security certification’. The team is also gearing up for an increased usage of technology in its ranks in the near future, and has recently revamped its contract approval process – this innovation has had a significant corresponding effect on the team’s efficiency.

This, combined with a selective attitude when hiring new lawyers to the team – with ‘strong team players and those with business acumen’ prized – has been a major factor in the team’s success. A further challenge for the Calypso Technology legal team is the company’s exposure to the effects of increased economic sanctions by the US on certain business partners. Hengeler explains that this has required the team to ‘do due diligence on partners and clients and spend more on that area. We have also tightened our export controls policy beyond entities or individuals we would usually do this with’. Hengeler was also keen to mention senior corporate counsel Hope Straw ‘who handled a number of high-profile and significant transactions this year under difficult demands’.