TMT (technology, media and telecoms)
Dentons maintains a strong reputation for advising on complex and high-value commercial arrangements, often involving cross-border considerations. The team regularly supports clients across a wide range of industries, with particular strength in retail, media, hospitality, technology, and transport. Instructions range from strategic outsourcing and joint development agreements to supply chain structuring, distribution, and agency arrangements, and digital transformation projects. The team has experience in advising on commercial arrangements that involve complex IP, licensing, and technology-related issues, frequently operating as a one-stop shop where intellectual property, data, and commercial elements intersect. Recent mandates include advising on large-scale media and content distribution arrangements, multi-jurisdictional product rollouts, and business-critical supplier agreements. Martin Fanning heads the commercial division of the firm, while Tristan Jonckheer drives the team’s strong telecommunications and media offering. Sarah Lima and Scott Singer are further important members of the team.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
Profile
Work Department
Technology, commercial contracts, data protection, intellectual.
Position
Scott is the Head of Dentons' Corporate and Commercial division. He focuses on commercial contracts, IT and data privacy law and is directory-ranked in all of these areas. Scott is particularly well known for his work in the retail sector, where he advises a number of the UK's best known names on the high street.
Scott is ranked in Chambers 2017 as a leading practitioner for commercial contracts, which recognizes he "has considerable experience across a range of commercial matters. He has a reputation for handling strategically significant large-scale agreements for market-leading and brand-name clients." Scott has acted for many household names on large-scale commercial deals involving supply of goods and services, joint ventures, distribution agreements, transportation, logistics, marketing agreements, design and manufacturing agreements and consultancy agreements.
Scott is a member of Dentons' Band 1-ranked IT and Telecoms team, with an emphasis on IT, outsourcing, payments transactions, software law and the exploitation of databases. He was previously a computer programmer and draws on this background alongside 20 years' experience advising in this field to enable him to share with his clients not just technical knowledge but also insight into what is contractually achievable in the market. Scott focuses especially closely on deals involving payments, cloud services, Software as a Service (SaaS), agile development and deals with major technology vendors and has a keen understanding of current market positions. He is also very experienced in deals for major projects and IT outsourcings.
Scott has particular capabilities in data privacy law and is one of the partners in Dentons' Band 1-ranked team. He has advised numerous data controllers and data subjects on all aspects of data privacy, including GDPR compliance, data breach, cyber risk, global data transfers, customer data and consents, data sharing, sale and purchase of databases, subject access rights, employee monitoring and data protection policies. Scott is recognized in directories "for his focus on practical solutions" (Legal 500 2017).
Memberships
The Law Society; INTA; LES; British Computer Society and its Special Interest Group on business information systems.
Education
University of Manchester (1993 BA (Econ) Honours in Economics and Political Theory); College of Law, London (1994 Common Professional Examination); College of Law, London (1995 Legal Practice Course); 1997 Admitted as a solicitor; University of Strathclyde (1999 LLM in IT and Telecoms Law (with distinction)).
Content supplied by Dentons
Key clients
- Avis Budget Group
- Capita
- Daily Mail Group / DMG Events
- FIFA Museum
- Flex
- John Lewis Partnership
- Meta
- M&S
- Royal Mail Group
- Sky UK
- The TJX Companies
- Avis Budget Group
Work highlights
Advising Royal Mail Group on the contractual arrangements facilitating its strategic move into the locker banks, under which Royal Mail will roll out lockers for use by customers in the UK.
Provided end to end support to FIFA Museum in relation to a long term contractual engagement with SecuTix, a leading provider of ticket management software.
Continuing to advise M&S on a range of UK and international franchising, distribution and brand licensing arrangements.