Outsourcing: Law and Business

Jason Krieser is the co-head of the Firm’s Technology & Outsourcing Practice, and the office managing partner for Dallas and Houston at McDermott Will & Emery. He advises clients on all aspects of technology transactions, outsourcing matters, telecommunications and other complex commercial contracts, including artificial intelligence and robotic process automation arrangements. He is an internationally recognized advisor on outsourcing matters, including information technology (IT), business process (finance and accounting, human resources, logistics and facilities management) and offshore issues. He also handles technology development and licensing matters, joint ventures, strategic alliances, manufacturing agreements, key supply and distribution agreements, other complex service agreements, Internet of Things (IoT) and e-commerce matters. He has handled cloud-computing transactions for the past 20 years, including software as a service (SaaS), infrastructure as a service (IaaS) and platform as a service (PaaS) transactions.

Jason is the co-author of a legal treatise on outsourcing law titled Outsourcing: Law and Business published by LJP (the treatise publishing arm of American Lawyer Media). This treatise gives detailed treatment to all material legal and business issues associated with outsourcing transactions. The form of master outsourcing services agreement developed by Jason and his co-author, and featured in the treatise, is publicly available and widely used in the outsourcing industry.

Shawn C. Helms is co-head of the Firm’s Technology & Commercial Transactions and Outsourcing Groups at McDermott Will & Emery. Shawn has broad experience in the areas of information technology, outsourcing and telecommunications. He focuses his practice on complex transactions involving technology and intellectual property, including blockchain, business process outsourcing (BPO) and information technology outsourcing (ITO), licensing, cloud computing arrangements (infrastructure as a service (IaaS), software as a service (SaaS) and platform as a service (PaaS)), technology maintenance and services, technology development/customization (including iPhone, Android and other mobile device applications and systems), wireless infrastructure, robotic process automation (RPA), artificial intelligence, social media issues, strategic alliances, e-commerce, distribution, internet of things (IoT), confidentiality, strategic sourcing and data security/privacy. He also advises clients on transition services and technology and intellectual property matters relating to the acquisition or divestiture of businesses. Shawn also has significant experience in advising clients through contract lifecycle management processes, software audits and related negotiations and settlements, open source software issues and software escrow matters.

Shawn has written widely on the topics of technology and outsourcing. Shawn is the co-author of a legal treatise on outsourcing law, Outsourcing Law and Business published by LJP (the treatise publishing arm of American Lawyer Media). It is the only comprehensive treatise on outsourcing law. This treatise gives detailed treatment to all material legal and business issues associated with outsourcing transactions. The treatise also covers changes in the outsourcing industry (e.g., RPA, cloud computing and smaller transactions) and suggests new tools and a modern approach for dealing with these changes. Learn more at www.outsourcingtreatise.com.

Previously, Shawn was a partner at an international law firm, in-house counsel at Sprint Nextel Corporation and the director of information technology at Williams & Connolly. Shawn earned bachelor’s degrees in computer systems, business administration and economics.

Shawn worked as part of a team to create free, downloadable form Master Outsourcing Service Agreements (MOSA) for United States and German law. 

Heather S. Bethancourt represents clients in business process and information technology outsourcing transactions at McDermott Will & Emery. She has extensive experience representing healthcare systems, carriers and vendors negotiating revenue cycle management outsourcing agreements and other complex outsourcing and commercial transactions. In addition, she represents clients in strategic supply agreements, manufacturing and distribution agreements, technology licensing, technology maintenance and service agreements, technology development, cloud-computing transactions such as software as a service (SaaS) arrangements and strategic alliances. Heather also advises clients on technology and commercial contract issues that arise under other corporate transactions such as mergers and acquisitions and joint ventures, including transition services agreements. Her experience with other commercial contracts includes a human resources emphasis representing clients in independent contractor, contingent labor and recruiting services agreements and advising clients on rebadging issues in outsourcing transactions.