American legal firm Bryan Cave has put together a team of lawyers to cater for specific demands of the data center and cloud industries.

Lawyers specialized in data privacy and security, intellectual property, licensing and IT outsourcing will collaborate with the firm’s real estate client service group, offering their advisory services globally, with a focus on regions with dense concentrations of data centers.

Spotting the niche

“We are excited to make available to our clients a team of lawyers with such diverse experience within the data center and cloud infrastructure field,” said Jim Grice, partner in the firm’s Kansas City office.

”Our team is composed of nearly 40 lawyers from a variety of transactional, litigation and regulatory practice backgrounds who collectively can offer the full spectrum of legal services and advice that our clients have come to expect and depend on.

“We recognize that the complexity and the stakes of this industry have continued to grow, and so too has the need for sophisticated counsel who have a true understanding of the issues that matter to our clients, the experience necessary to help them achieve their goals, and a track record of delivering results on the matters that mean the most to them.”

With the data center industry growing at a rapid pace, it is easy to see how a need for specialized legal teams is emerging in the process. Many issues can arise from the design stage through to the facility’s operation and maintenance, related to contracts between developers, investors, IT suppliers, telcos and network operators, owners and leaseholders. Theare are also matters of taxation, data sovereignty andr environmental liability to ctake into account.

In 2013, US and Mexico business law firm Snell & Wilmer, employing 400 attorneys, launched its own data center practice.