Rhys McWhirter

Partner
Eversheds Sutherland

Rhys is a partner in our Hong Kong office and leads the Technology practice. He has extensive experience in drafting and negotiating high-value and strategic commercial and technology agreements and has acted for both government and private sector clients, particularly financial institutions throughout Asia Pacific on complex commercial and digital transformation projects.

Prior to joining Eversheds Sutherland, Rhys led a “Big Four” Professional Services Firm’s Technology and Digital Practice based in Hong Kong and established an industry-recognised and Chambers-ranked FinTech legal practice. Previously, Rhys was a senior commercial and technology lawyer at a Tier 1 Chambers-ranked law firm in Australia.

Rhys has advised various clients on a broad range of commercial and TMT transactions, including complex supply and service agreements, FinTech, technology outsourcing & digital transformation and data privacy projects. Further, he has acted for many FinTech start-ups across Asia in relation to various emerging technologies such as blockchain and cryptocurrency, including advising two offshore regulators on the implementation of their respective blockchain and cryptocurrency legislation and policies.

He has significant experience in advising leading financial services, mining and aviation multi-national companies in Asia Pacific on various strategic commercial and TMT-related transactions, including infrastructure outsourcing (private and public cloud), core-banking platforms, contact centre and telecommunications services, enterprise software licensing, data centre and facilities management and application outsourcing arrangements. Recently, he advised a global insurance group on key data privacy regulatory requirements across 14 jurisdictions in Asia Pacific.