DXC Technology & Bird & Bird – Developing a full service global offering for our US Clients
Written By
Partner
UK
Here at Bird & Bird, I'm a partner in our Commercial group. I specialise in co-ordinating Bird & Bird's service provision internationally to provide solutions to our clients' problems across the world.
Bird & Bird's international Tech & Comms and Data Protection specialists have been singled out for praise in an interview with Bill Deckelman, Executive Vice President at DXC Technologies.
The interview with US publication Vanguard Legal focused on the creation of DXC in 2017 which resulted from the merger of Computer Sciences Corp (CSC) and the Electronic Services unit of Hewlett Packard Enterprise. A particular theme in the interview concerned the ongoing EU regulatory and privacy issues the company has had to navigate.
The following extract highlights the value Bird & Bird brings to this relationship:
"The EU law being very thorough, it’s not like in the U.S. where different states might have their variations of privacy regulation. A two-year transitory time-frame ending, GDPR will be comprehensive and prescriptive, leaving few vagaries. The new regs might even make it easier for a non-European company like DXC to do business, but the other side of that equation is a stringent data-protection compliance regime, with penalties up to 4 percent of worldwide turnover".
So with the potential, as well as risks, raised more than a few notches, Deckelman finds it prudent to bring outside expertise into the mix, including Bird & Bird, a London-based international law firm, well-versed in all matters critical to GDPR.
“I’m very impressed with Bird & Bird,” Deckelman says. “We selected them as a strategic partner because of their understanding of IT and law. They’ve been at it for years, and are very practical about what’s in play. You couldn’t ask for a better partner.”
DXC Technology was formed in 2017, and is the world's leading independent, end-to-end IT services and solutions company, helping clients harness the power of innovation to thrive on change.
Nick Perry, client relationship partner for DXC Technology, recently oversaw Bird & Bird's appointment to their global panel for non-US work. Lawyers from 11 practice areas have now received instructions including commercial, competition, corporate, data protection, dispute resolution, employment, finance, intellectual property, outsourcing and public procurement.
The DXC Technology relationship is a case study of the support we can offer our US based clients across Europe, the Asia-Pacific and the Middle East. In the last 12 months we have advised on projects involving our teams in Australia, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, UAE and the United Kingdom.
The launch of our San Francisco office in September 2018 will provide Bird & Bird a platform from which to target and develop similar global relationships with US headquartered clients in the future.
