Hamish Fraser

I'm the lead partner of our Australian IT and Communications Groups in Sydney, where our clients are at the cutting edge of legal and regulatory developments in the region.

I advise on commercial issues and regulatory matters for clients in all facets of the information technology and communications industries. Whether buying or supplying IT and communications, I provide detailed advice and contracting experience on digital businesses, software, cloud, distribution, confidentiality, e-commerce, security, IT procurement and outsourcing. I have acted in a number of patent, copyright and trade mark cases.

Before joining Bird & Bird, I held a senior legal role at Optus, Australia's number two telecoms carrier, where I was involved in negotiating large scale telecoms supply and acquisition agreements and was the key lawyer responsible for the firm-wide procurement function. In addition, I was involved in regulatory issues, industry code development and was responsible for managing a number of high profile disputes. I also spent a year on internal secondment to the national Managing Director of Optus Business.

Over many years, I have been a prominent contributor to public policy discussion in the industry and mainstream press as a result of my extensive practice in convergence, social media, privacy and data protection.

• I have acted for Rackspace since it first opened it doors in Australia, including the development of its Australian Data Centres
• I have advised Airtasker since it was founded - now Australia's most successful startup in the last 5 years.
• I assisted in the establishment of Australia's most successful MVNO, amaysim assisting it with all of its wholesale and commercial agreements, regulatory requirements and compliance.