Brad Peterson
Brad Peterson is a partner in Mayer Brown’s Chicago office. He leads the Technology Transactions practice.
Lauded by clients as “astonishingly talented” (Chambers USA 2010), Brad has focused his practice for 20 years on helping companies work better with their technology and operations suppliers. In outsourcing, he has represented customers in dozens of large managed services agreements with, cumulatively, over $15 billion in contract value. In the past five years, he has represented clients in increasing numbers of contracts with digital services providers, including cloud, data analytics, “as a Service” and automated process scopes and cyber security and privacy issues related to those scopes. He also has extensive experience representing companies’ licensing enterprise systems and contracting for systems integration and systems development for those systems. He benefits in this practice from majoring in Computer Studies as an undergraduate, receiving an MBA from the University of Chicago, and working as a software developer and IBM Marketing Representative for years before attending Harvard Law School.
Brad has been ranked as a Band 1 individual for several years in both Chambers USA (Illinois Technology and the National Outsourcing categories) and Chambers Global (Global – US Outsourcing category). Best Lawyers named Brad as the “Chicago Technology Law Lawyer of the Year” for 2013. He is named as a Leading Lawyer and “singled out for praise” in Legal 500 2011. Sources value his “fast mind” and persuasive arguments: “When you are negotiating a clause he will be explaining in the most rational and clear terms.” Chambers Global 2015 notes that Brad is able to “mix the technical and legal sides of the deal to give a broad perspective on how it will work.” Chambers USA 2015 notes that Brad “maintains an excellent reputation and is lauded as being ‘in tremendous command of the facts.'” Chambers USA 2014 reports that he “is a ‘phenomenal’ outsourcing attorney with a wide-ranging practice that includes joint ventures, licensing and services agreements. Clients remark that ‘he is very pragmatic and he gives you confidence. He provides more than legal advice – he supports you in your deals.'” Chambers USA 2012 states that Brad is “the gold standard of legal advisers on IT outsourcing and contracts” and “works well with the internal team.” Legal 500 reported in 2009 that “One enthusiastic client says ‘considering what you get with him in terms of brains and dedication, you know that whatever the price, he’s the guy that you have to have on your team.'” Brad “deserves his ‘fantastic reputation,’ sources agree. While he is ‘an excellent theoretician,’ he is also skilled in handling the practicalities of a transaction” (Chambers USA 2008). Clients have also called him “best of the best” and said that he has the “capacity to mastermind real-world solutions to very complex and difficult issues” (Chambers USA 2006). Brad was named to Legal 500’s list of Hall of Fame lawyers in 2017.
Brad is a frequent and popular speaker and writer on outsourcing, the Digital Age, and emerging technology topics. Brad has for several years been a co-chair of the Practicing Law Institute’s program on Outsourcing.
