New head of technology at Mills & Reeve boosts technology sector offering

By Nicky Godding

9 September 2022

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Partner Doug McDonald has been appointed new technology sector at law firm Mills & Reeve to enhance the firm’s offering to clients.

Doug is an experienced commercial litigator who has been at Mills & Reeve for more than 14 years and advises technology companies on a wide range of commercial dispute resolution matters. Doug counts some of UK’s most exciting technology businesses among his clients and is highly regarded by his peers and colleagues in the tech community. He works with companies ranging from rapidly growing start-ups to listed companies operating on a global scale. Part of his offering to clients is his strong relationships with the firm’s network of best friend firms in key jurisdictions for technology businesses, particularly in the US where he visits regularly, having previously undertaken a secondment in Boston and New York.

Advising technology businesses is a key sector for Mills & Reeve showing an impressive growth of 14% in the last financial year. Providing exceptional client service to support our clients in achieving their business goals will be Doug’s key aim in his new role. To do this, Mills & Reeve will continue to use their deep sector knowledge to provide pragmatic and commercially focused advice, as well as pushing forward their innovative national initiatives, such as the LaunchPad app to assist early stage technology companies and scale ups.

Doug said: “Our renowned national technology group is consistently advising some of the most exciting and cutting-edge technology companies across the world, from start-ups to global organisations. Our technology lawyers cover all work types, including corporate finance, commercial agreements, intellectual property, IT contracts, data protection, employment, immigration, product liability, commercial dispute resolution, real estate and tax.

"With the recent opening of our Oxford office, and the rapidly growing technology practice, part of my focus will also be to bring new talent into the team to add to our existing offering. Having been listed in the “100 Best Companies to Work For” list for the 19th year running, it is a great time to join the firm.”

Mills & Reeve, a national law firm that has an established technology practice, provides full service commercial support to its clients across its seven offices. The firm acts for a wide range of technology businesses having recently advised: on the sale of Mondly, one of the world’s leading on-line learning platforms, to Pearson; Skillcast Group on its £33.1 million AIM IPO and related £4.5 million fundraising; IQ Capital investments as part of Series B fundings into Nyobolt (£50 million total raised) and Speechmatics ($62m million total raised) and also advised Fintech organisation Bango on its recent acquisition of DOCOMO Digital, a global payments business of NTT Docomo.

Doug picks up the baton from the previous head of technology, Kevin Calder. Kevin continues to advise a large portfolio of technology clients, as well as government departments and industry regulators.

By Nicky Godding

Nicky Godding is editor of The Business Magazine. Before her journalism career, she worked mainly in public relations moving into writing when she was invited to launch Retail Watch, a publication covering retail and real estate across Europe.

After some years of constant travelling, she tucked away her passport and concentrated on business writing, co-founding a successful regional business magazine. She has interviewed some of the UK’s most successful entrepreneurs who have built multi-million-pound businesses and reported on many science and technology firsts.

She reports on the region’s thriving business economy from start-ups, family businesses and multi-million-pound corporations, to the professionals that support their growth and the institutions that educate the next generation of business leaders.