Marcus Pearl
Marcus Pearl
Marcus Pearl
Partner and Global Practice Group Leader – Technology, Commercial & Government Affairs
Biography
As the Global Practice Group Leader for Technology, Commercial and Government Affairs, Marcus has over 20 years of commercial, technology and outsourcing experience on a wide variety of strategic transactions, often cross-border in nature. He has a strong history of advising US corporates in the European market.
He has a particular focus on the corporate technology, financial services (including FinTech and Insuretech), retail, leisure and sports and entertainment sectors. Marcus won TMT Team of the Year for his role in the award-winning £1bn global IT outsourcing transformation project for National Grid. He has a particular focus on corporate carve-out transactions where M&A and outsourcing overlap.
He is the firm’s lead or joint client relationship partner for a number of Firmwide clients, including BT Group/Openreach, eBay, DXC Technology Inc., SPX FLOW Inc., NIKE Inc., Schroders and the music licensing companies, Performing Rights Society and Phonographic Performance Ltd, amongst others.
Marcus continues to stand out as a leading individual for Information Technology, Outsourcing and Commercial Contracts by legal directories Chambers UK and Legal 500 UK, and is recognised as a key lawyer in Sport in Legal 500 UK. Marcus is included in “The Best Lawyers in the United Kingdom” for his high calibre work in Outsourcing, in which he has been consistently recognised since 2018.
Marcus’s clients have commented in Chambers UK 2025:
- "Marcus works very hard to ensure a high level of customer satisfaction and is always at the end of the phone when needed."
- "Marcus is knowledgeable and sophisticated."
- "He is an ambitious and smart partner."
- "Marcus has been great and is a real driving force to achieve the right outcomes for us."
Client Story
Marcus advised Apto Payments, a San Francisco based fintech company, on its launch of the UK’s first cryptocurrency debit card. BCLP’s solution helped Apto navigate the complex regulatory requirements challenging the launch.
Admissions
-
England and Wales
Related Practice Areas
-
Intellectual Property and Technology Disputes
-
Regulation, Compliance & Advisory
-
Cryptocurrency & Digital Assets
-
Software Audits
-
Data Center & Digital Infrastructure Team
-
Software, Cloud Subscription & Systems Integration
-
Digital Transformation & Emerging Technology
-
Real Estate Sector
-
Israel Practice
-
Marketing & Advertising
-
Olympic & National Governing Body Practice
-
Professional Sports Team Practice
-
AdTech
-
PropTech
-
Sports & Entertainment Contract, Endorsement & Celebrity Representation Practice
-
Anti-Doping Practice
-
Sports & Event Venue Real Estate Infrastructure and Operation
-
Naming Rights & Sponsorship Practice
-
Sports & Entertainment M&A Practice
-
Sports & Entertainment Specialty Counseling Practice
-
Entertainment Industry Practice
-
Sports & Event Financing
-
Healthcare & Life Sciences
-
Financial Institutions
-
Outsourcing
-
Retail & Consumer Products
-
Sports & Entertainment
-
Fintech
-
Commercial Contracts
-
Technology Transactions
-
Corporate
-
Finance
-
Litigation & Dispute Resolution
-
Corporate Carve-Outs & Transitions
-
Crypto and Digital Assets
-
Payment Systems
Experience
- BT Group Plc: advised on the carve out from BT and sale of non-core division, BT Fleet Solutions to, and a long term outsourcing arrangement to continue management of BT's own fleet for a confidential amount with, Aurelius Group, a pan-European investment group.
- DXC Technology Inc.: advised DXC, the world’s leading independent, end-to-end IT services company, on its expansion in the luxury market through the acquisition of LLX Global Business Services (GBS), the captive in-house provider of e-commerce, finance and accounting services and the entering into long-term contracts with luxury brands Bally, Jimmy Choo and Belstaff worth $1bn
- NIKE Inc.: advised on a highly strategic global business process outsourcing project with Genpact International Inc. (“Genpact”). This was a FTE based contract with an estimated cost of $32-35m over 5 years, applying to all NIKE geographies and entities globally, including the Emerging Markets. We advised on the entire transaction, including on the bidding process with 5 leading BPO providers through to downselect to Genpact, on the entire negotiation process with Genpact through to completion in 2014. We also advised on the employment issues arising from the transfer of FTEs for Europe and on the implementation of pan-European employment and data privacy advice.
- Snapsheet Inc.: advised Snapsheet, the leading provider of virtual claims technology for the personal and commercial insurance marketplace, on a strategic agreement with Zurich Insurance Group, marking a global expansion for Snapsheet and allowing its innovative digital services platform to be available in multiple countries across Zurich's operations in Europe, Latin America and Asia Pacific.
- London Stock Exchange (LSE)/Exactpro Systems: advised quality assurance firm, Exactpro, on its management buyout from LSE on undisclosed terms and the signing of a multi-year services agreement between the two companies to ensure LSE remains a customer of Exactpro providing an independent software quality assessment of LSE’s core platforms.
- Schroders: advised on a joint launch between Ant Fortune (as part of Chinese payments company, Alipay) and Schroders of the Investment Personality Test, a digital tool that combines the science of behavioural finance and investment education, enabling investors in China to better understand how their personality could impact their investments.
- Apto Payments/Coinbase: advised Apto Payments, the San Francisco-based fintech company specialising in innovative card programmes, on its entry to the UK market through the launch of a cryptocurrency debit card. A first-of-its-kind product in the UK, Apto entered into a strategic alliance with Coinbase, one of the world’s leading cryptocurrency exchanges, where Apto would be providing the proprietary technology behind the card payment programme.
- Kosmos Global Events: advised investment vehicle, Kosmos Global Events, an investment fund led by Barcelona and Spain footballer, Gerard Piqué, on a long term, strategic collaboration arrangement with the International Tennis Federation worth over £2bn.
- PRS for Music (“PRS”) and Phonographic Performance Limited (“PPL”): advised the joint venture between the UK's two major licensing societies, PRS for Music and PPL, on a significant IT project with Accenture as part of its new music licensing platform.
- National Grid: advised on its global IS transformation project which involved outsourcing arrangements worth £1bn. The IT streams outsourced included enterprise services, networks and system management integrator services. National Grid made a strategic decision to split a legacy IT outsourcing contract into six separate IT outsourcings with different suppliers. National Grid also introduced the novel concept of a “service integrator” to monitor and manage all the outsourced deals. We advised National Grid throughout the entire deal life cycle, from the tender process through to completion. The separate contracts covered software development, data centres, printing, email & communications and the service integrator. The deals covered both UK and US operations, so we worked in close partnership with National Grid’s US legal advisors, Kirkland & Ellis. Deal won Legal Week UK TMT Team of the Year.
- Barclays: advised on the second-generation outsourcing of Barclays’ physical secure storage services (i.e. hard copy data archive and retrieval services). This was a £40m deal over 5 years. It involved the outsourcing of services currently in-sourced as well as the consolidation of services being provided to Barclays by 4 different providers. This created complex transitional issues including HR and property issues.
- Schroders: advised in relation to the outsourcing of all its IT infrastructure to Computacenter (UK) Limited for five years, with an option to renew. This arrangement replaced the then current provision of IT services to Schroders by CSC. Under the agreement, Schroders will pay Computacenter £8m p.a.. This was a highly significant and strategic deal for Schroders as it has enabled it to receive cost-effective services whilst maintaining a degree of control which it didn't have under the arrangement with CSC.
- Thomas Miller: advised on the first-generation outsourcing of its entire middle-office operations (including OTC derivatives) to Bank of New York Mellon, for an initial term of 10 years. Separately, we advised TMI in relation to a Client Agreement with Pershing (Channel Islands) Limited and Thomas Miller Investment Limited in relation to the provision by Pershing of clearing, custody and settlement services. We also advised on TMI’s terms of business with its clients and standard execution policy.
- Major UK water company: advised on a multi-year, multi-million pound strategic outsourcing of the customer services of a major UK water company, including revenue and collections functions. The procurement was tendered to multiple bidders, with final contracts awarded each for voice and non-voice services. Both solutions have a mix of on and off-shore services, adding a complication of data and employee transfers. We also advised on the utilities procurement regulations, employment and tax.
- Leading insurance company: advised on a series of multi-tier, multi-site facilities management for a leading international insurance company’s entire UK property portfolio for the benefit of all of its subsidiaries. As part of the project, we advised on the contract structure of the new framework agreements for the client’s catering, cleaning, security and maintenance requirements, as well as on the termination of a number of incumbent suppliers’ agreements. We advised on the tender process for all of the required services, all contractual documentation, including the call off agreements that fall under the framework agreement.
Related Insights
Dec 12, 2024
Nov 25, 2024
Oct 17, 2024
Oct 07, 2024
Oct 02, 2024
Sep 20, 2024
Aug 07, 2024
Jul 15, 2024
Jun 25, 2024