Christian McDermott, an experienced technology lawyer and Co-Chair of the firm's Payments Practice, advises global and UK-based clients on large-scale technology contracts, commercial collaborations, and complex fintech and payments transactions.

Christian advises major financial institutions, as well as publicly listed, private, and emerging companies, on the development, use, and commercialization of technology, in the context of:

  • Large-scale technology and outsourcing projects
  • Complex commercial collaborations, including joint ventures
  • Fintech contracts
  • Established and emerging payments technologies
  • Licensing and distribution arrangements
  • Technology licensing arrangements
  • IP development and licensing agreements
  • IP transfers
  • General commercial law and intellectual property matters

He also regularly leads the technology and IP aspects of M&A and capital markets transactions.

He has a keen sense of what is at market, utilizes effective collaboration strategies, and has developed a reputation as a skilled negotiator who knows how to get deals done.

Christian’s representative experience includes advising:

Fintech and Payments

  • Coinbase on acquiring Deribit, the world’s leading crypto options exchange with about US$30 billion of current open interest
  • FIS on its US$24.2 billion sale of Worldpay with GTCR to Global Payments and concurrent US$13.5 billion acquisition of Global Payments’ Issuer Solutions business
  • Payoneer, a global payments platform, on its strategic acquisition of Skuad, an employer-of-record and agent-of-record on behalf of enterprise customers in 160 countries
  • A European financial services provider on its joint venture with a leading US telecoms company, including drafting and negotiating various associated business and outsourcing arrangements, as well as launching a co-branded credit card
  • Goldman Sachs on developing Marcus Invest, its UK Retail Investment Platform
  • Goldman Sachs Bank USA on its US$150 million receivables funding facility for Splitit Payments Limited, a global BNPL solutions provider
  • Madison Dearborn Partners on acquiring all outstanding shares of MoneyGram, a global leader in money transfer services, valued at approximately US$1.8 billion
  • Square on acquiring Verse Technologies, a Spain-based mobile payments application company
  • The Rise Fund, an investing platform of TPG, on its US$200million investment in Airtel Mobile Commerce (Airtel Money), a Netherlands-based mobile money business and wholly owned Airtel Africa subsidiary
  • Cipher Mining Technologies on a master services and supply agreement with Bitfury to enable Cipher to establish its bitcoin mining operations in the US
  • A global online marketplace on contractual negotiations with a payment service provider in relation to rolling out a BNPL product in the Middle East
  • Thomas Cook Group plc on the payments-related aspects of its attempted rescue, in particular renegotiating arrangements with its three largest payment service providers
  • Interswitch on its strategic partnership with Visa, which made Interswitch one of the most valuable African fintech businesses with a valuation of US$1 billion
  • A nation state on developing a new domestic and international payments system, including drafting the various underlying commercial contracts
  • TransferWise on strategic structuring and developing template B2B terms and conditions
  • A crypto-brokerage on the developing its standard client-facing terms and conditions
  • Numerous merchants and merchant acquirers on payment processing terms, including applying the GDPR to such arrangements
  • CVC and Blackstone in connection with the £2.96 billion acquisition by a consortium comprising Blackstone and CVC Capital of Paysafe Group a UK-based online payment solutions company
  • The underwriters on the US$2.4 billion IPO of Nets — Scandinavia’s largest payments processor
  • A major natural resources company on its global paying services contract with a global bank
  • A leading Asian social network on the international product rollout of a new payments platform in various countries, including regulatory, compliance, and local partnership arrangements
  • A major merchant services provider on its new standard form, large-market merchant services agreement

Videogames

  • CVC on its investment in Dream Games as its sole equity partner
  • Build A Rocket Boy, an international game developer and publisher, on acquiring PlayFusion
  • CVC Capital Partners and the acquisition vehicle it formed with Haveli Investments on acquiring Jagex, a leading videogame developer and publisher, from Carlyle

Non-Fintech M&A

  • A consortium of investors, led by Andrew Cavenagh and 49ers Enterprises Global Football Group, on acquiring a majority stake in Rangers Football Club
  • Muse Capital on its investment into the Red Bull Italy SailGP team, as part of a consortium of investors and sports industry leaders
  • DoorDash on its proposed take-private of food delivery platform Deliveroo
  • Anglo American on the US$3.775 billion sale of its Australian Steelmaking Coal Portfolio to Peabody Energy
  • Jersey Telecom on selling its IoT division, including advising on transitional and long-term separation arrangements involving proprietary systems and underlying IP and source code issues
  • A global household appliance company on the carve-out of its EMEA business
  • EQT, CPP Investments, and Nord Anglia Education on the sale of Nord Anglia Education to a consortium formed by Neuberger Berman Private Markets, EQT, and CPP Investments, together with other global institutional investors, for an enterprise value of US$14.5 billion
  • Cadence on its agreement to acquire Arm’s Artisan foundation IP business

Outsourcing

  • A leading UK insurer on outsourcing its policy administration activities, as well as certain IT and business processes
  • A global media company on negotiating framework services agreements with the client’s three main offshore service providers
  • A global media company on negotiating licensing and support arrangements to implement and run tax compliance software and associated outsourced services across the client’s operating divisions
  • A UK-headquartered exchange on renegotiating and insourcing its IT function
  • A global retail and investment bank on the multibillion-euro global outsourcing of its investment banking IT infrastructure
  • A global UK-headquartered retail and investment bank on the top-down renegotiation of its relationship with its biggest IT supplier, comprising individual hardware, software, and services streams
  • A leading South African bank on outsourcing the bank’s applications maintenance arrangements
  • A global UK-headquartered retail and investment bank on the global outsourcing of the bank’s facilities management functions
  • A global retail bank on renegotiating a complex framework agreement covering of all of its voice and data telecommunications requirements

Bar Qualification

  • England and Wales (Solicitor)
  • Scotland (Solicitor)

Education

  • QLTT, College of Law, London, 2010
  • Master of Laws, Cambridge University, 2007
  • Diploma in Legal Practice, University of Edinburgh, 2006
  • Bachelor of Laws, University of Edinburgh, 2005
    First Class Honours
Badges and Logos_Law360_Fintech Group of the Year_2024
February 20, 2025 Recognition

Fintech Group of the Year: Latham

Firm honored by Law360 for advising startups, financial institutions, VCs, digital asset and Web3 participants, and corporations on their most innovative and complex transactions, investigations, litigation, and regulatory matters.