Acting on behalf of domestic and international clients in the retail, finance, and healthcare industries, the ‘commercially astute’ CMS team is experienced in work concerning IT infrastructure issues and AI implementation. The practice’s specialists are highly knowledgeable in the data protection field, representing a range of clients spanning from consumer goods to oil and gas. Based in Glasgow, Alan Nelson heads the outfit, primarily focusing on outsourcing projects and complex services arrangements, while Edinburgh-based Duncan Turner assists clients with acquisitions of IT software. Also in Glasgow, Martin Beveridge concentrates on IT infrastructure matters, and Chris Bowie stands out for his cloud services knowledge.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
‘CMS has excellent knowledge and experience of IT and telecoms sector with strength in depth across the whole team.'
- 'The CMS team responds promptly to customer requirements while providing invaluable advice and analysis to support our decision-making.'
- CMS are open to collaborative working and has introduced new team members seamlessly.’
‘The commitment, knowledge and experience of the whole CMS team are outstanding.'
- 'Knowledgeable, commercially astute and easy to deal with.’
‘Alan Nelson, Martin Beveridge and Chris Bowie are stand out. All are excellent technically, commercially savvy and easy to deal with.’
‘I have worked with CMS on developing very complex and innovative FinTech products. This has involved looking at unique legal issues - unique because we're developing products that haven't been done before. They act as "product counsels" understanding the wider commercial and consumer goals and tailoring their advice to help us progress a product from concept design to launch.’
‘Christopher Bowie is impressive - he is a very effective negotiator; very intelligent; and very commercially minded. What I value most though is his empathy. He just gets it, both in the sense of the stress we are under as in-house lawyers and also the goals we are driving for.’
Key clients
- National Services Scotland
- Northern Ireland Water
- Isio Group Limited
- Pendragon plc
- National Services Scotland
- University Court of the University of Glasgow
- Salary Finance Limited
- Flow Global Limited
- Sainsbury’s Supermarkets Limited
- Lloyds Banking Group
Work highlights
- Advised the central procurement body for NHS Scotland on the ‘Future of SWAN’ procurement project for the Scottish Wide Area Network, a technology solution to connect more than 6,000 public sector sites in Scotland.
- Advised Northern Ireland Water, the sole provider of water and sewerage services in Northern Ireland, on the public procurement of a replacement outsourced billing software solution and services to operate that billing software on a long-term basis.
- Advised Isio, one of the UK’s leading pension advisory firms, on the negotiation of critical IT services, infrastructure and client facing contracts.
Lawyers
Hall of fame
The lawyers at the very top of the profession, widely known and respected by peers and clients for their longstanding involvement in market-leading work.
Practice head
Alan Nelson
Other key lawyers
Duncan Turner; Martin Beveridge; Chris Bowie; Joy Calder; Leanne Hammell; Neil Falconer; David Ramage; Rachel Macrae