William is a Partner in the Belfast office, specialising in Corporate Commercial matters including procurement, information technology, company investments, corporate M&A and energy.

William works with a range of public and private sector bodies advising on procurement, corporate and commercial issues. William’s practice includes advising in respect of intellectual property, information technology, licensing as well as giving procurement and commercial advice on a number of major capital investment projects, drafting and negotiation of contracts and advising on dispute resolution and construction issues.

Relevant Experience

• Advising C2k on en(ni), a major ICT outsourcing and support contract. Work included drafting procurement documentation, including OJEU, PQQ and IPID, drafting and negotiating contract (including dispute resolution procedures, IP ownership and software licensing) and advising generally in relation to compliance with the procurement rules
• Advising Department for Social Development and the Social Security Agency on procurement of medical services to support the social security system in Northern Ireland. Advice to the Department has involved detailed understanding and application of the procurement regulations as well as drafting and negotiating the services contract (which included IP and software licensing issues)
• Advising Department of Enterprise Trade and Investment on procurement of new submarine and terrestrial ICT (particularly telecommunications) infrastructure in the North West of the island of Ireland (Project Kelvin)
• Advising arc21 and its constituent councils on procurement of Residual Waste Treatment Project including drafting and negotiation of Project Agreement, construction and planning issues as well as related governance matters
• Advising Sport NI in relation to its grant of funding to North Down Borough Council’s for the construction of a 50m Olympic sized swimming pool in Bangor. Advice included the drafting of a bespoke funding agreement and tailored dispute resolution clauses
• Advising AES Kilroot on procurement of a major Overhauls contract for the maintenance of their electricity generating turbines. Advice included drafting the PQQ documentation, advice on evaluation criteria and compliance with the provisions of the utilities contracts regulations
• Advising AES Kilroot on all aspects of the procurement and construction of the battery storage project at their Kilroot site. This included advice on compliance with their obligations under the utilities contracts regulations, associated electricity licensing issues as well as contracts for purchase of the equipment and software licensing
• Advising the Department for the Economy in relation to its grant funding of the £200M expansion of the gas network in Northern Ireland
• Advising Breedon plc on the £455 million acquisition of Lagan Group (Holdings) Limited
• Advising the purchaser on the acquisition of Annaconda Equipment (a significant equipment manufacturer in Northern Ireland)