Legal skills
IT Law
Whether a company wishes to implement a new solution for its own purposes or is tasked with doing so on behalf of a client, IT and telecom projects are a critical component of modern business operations. Drafting, reviewing, and negotiating a high-quality contract is essential to risk management, balancing the parties’ respective commitments with the resources required to ensure the project’s success. Beyond their individual areas of expertise, all lawyers at Derriennic Associates receive training in this shared core skill, which forms one of the foundations of our work as advisers in new technologies: drafting and negotiating IT contracts, from the simplest to the most complex, in both English and French. Our approach combines operational pragmatism with rigorous drafting. We do not draft contracts merely “to please lawyers”; our objective is to deliver an operationally effective tool. Our priority is always to provide a robust, efficient, long-lasting contract that is perfectly tailored to its intended purpose. Our main objective is to protect our clients’ commitments while controlling the cost of our services and ensuring prompt, consistent and high-quality support. With in-depth knowledge of the field and industry players, and extensive experience in both advisory and contentious IT matters, Derriennic Associates assists its clients daily in drafting and negotiating all types of contractual instruments, particularly in the banking, financial markets, insurance, transport, tourism, industrial (automotive, energy, publishing, smart cards), energy distribution, military electronics, and public procurement sectors. Our clients include private-sector stakeholders such as software publishers, integrators, service providers, major corporations, as well as public entities. We provide both back-office services and direct support alongside or on behalf of our clients in their dealings with contractual partners, whether in France or abroad.
IT DISPUTES
Derriennic Associates has long been a leading player in IT disputes. Over the past thirty years, the firm has developed genuine expertise in this field, handling both pre-litigation procedures in connection with major IT projects supervision, and litigation before the courts. IT disputes combine technical complexity with high-stakes strategic considerations, and are frequently shaped by the court-appointed expert process that precedes litigation. The lawyer’s role is therefore that of a true “integrator”, coordinating the contributions of the client’s internal teams and the technical experts assisting them, in order to consistently align facts, technical considerations and legal analysis. Derriennic Associates has extensive experience in IT disputes and a thorough understanding of every aspect of such cases, being fully invested in the expert proceedings to achieve the best possible outcome. While unwavering in its determination, the firm is also a strong advocate of alternative dispute resolution—particularly mediation—and will always favour an amicable resolution whenever possible.
MONITORING OF IT PROJECTS
These services begin once the contract has been negotiated and signed, providing support for the management and monitoring of major IT projects. In many cases, despite a perfectly negotiated contract, a company may lose the benefits gained if the subsequent project is not managed with sufficient rigour—and vice versa. What truly matters is ensuring that every effort is made to maximise the smooth and successful execution of the project:
- by monitoring the project on a regular basis;
- by making full and effective use of the contract;
- by identifying and addressing difficulties at the earliest possible stage to avoid litigation or—if litigation becomes unavoidable—to ensure the client is in the strongest possible position.
Our extensive experience in IT disputes has given us a precise understanding of the “critical moments” in a project. Identifying and managing these in a timely manner is essential to ensuring the best possible outcome and strengthening our clients’ position in the event of disputes, settlement negotiations, or contractual amendments. Project monitoring typically involves:
- Before the project begins: Raising the operational teams’ awareness of the strengths and weaknesses of the contract. Because the team that negotiated the contract is often not the team that will implement it, we bring both teams together to present the sensitive areas of the contract and outline the possible approaches. This also allows us to help define the processes needed to manage these sensitive issues.
- Once the project is underway: Involvement ahead of project meetings or milestones. Project progress is punctuated by committees (monitoring, project, and steering committees) and key stages, generally requiring advance preparation of documents summarising progress, outstanding tasks, difficulties encountered, and proposed solutions. Upon reviewing these documents, we recommend the most appropriate way to frame and address the issues from both an operational and contractual perspective.
- Regular status updates with project management and/or executive management when involved.
- Handling alerts and participating in significant exchanges throughout the project.