DWS's relationship-building pays off with First Data's Barclays deal

Denton Wilde Sapte's (DWS) technology, media and telecoms team has bagged a lead role advising First Data International on its credit card payment processing deal with Barclays Bank.

First Data's deal with Barclays is the largest yet of its kind in the UK, estimated to be worth upwards of £250m, and leading to the need to instruct outside counsel.

It is the first time that First Data has instructed outside counsel on a credit card outsourcing contract, bringing in a 12-lawyer team led by IT outsourcing partner Scott Singer.

The firm manoeuvred into pole position for the deal after spending five years cultivating the client relationship. Singer said: "We've been doing a lot of procurement work for them on their IT and software, getting to know them quite well. Even for a company as big as First Data, this was a huge deal and they approached me and my team to work on it."

The successful completion of the deal has led to more work for the DWS outsourcing team. First Data has already instructed the firm to help out on a similar credit card processing agreement with another major bank.

The DWS team included employment partner Pauline McArdle, tax partner Jane Douglas, and dispute resolution partners Liz Tout and Philip Chong. Europe, the Middle East and Africa general counsel Jon Vantyghem led First Data's in-house team.

Tony Brown managed the Barclays legal team, instructing DLA Piper IT outsourcing partner David Glover and his team.