Technology Law and IT Contracts: Why Legal and IT Teams Should Train Together
Training legal and IT teams on contracting for advanced technologies cannot be limited to a one-off session.
During the week of July 6, 2026, we delivered a five-day training program on contracts and advanced technologies for the teams of a company operating in the electricity sector. The program brought together legal professionals and members of the IT department to address the same topics.
This experience confirms an essential observation: in complex digital projects, the main challenge is not solely technical or legal. It lies in the teams’ ability to work together using a shared language.
Bridging Technical and Legal Expertise
IT teams understand architectures, data flows, integration constraints, service levels, and security requirements. Legal professionals understand contractual mechanisms, liability regimes, compliance obligations, warranties, and risk management procedures.
Both areas of expertise are essential. However, when they operate separately, they may remain disconnected. Contracts may then be reviewed too late, after the technical decisions have already been made, or without a sufficient understanding of their operational implications.
The purpose of joint training is not to turn lawyers into engineers or IT professionals into lawyers. It is to enable them to better understand each other’s constraints and jointly identify the issues requiring particular attention.
Legal professionals should, in particular, be able to understand the general logic of a technical architecture, review specifications with sufficient perspective, identify the risks associated with cloud, IT outsourcing, or systems integration agreements, connect contractual commitments with technical constraints, and become involved at an early stage of the decision-making process rather than only during final approval. For their part, IT teams must be able to identify matters requiring legal analysis, such as liability, security, reversibility, service levels, intellectual property, subcontracting, audits, and regulatory compliance.
An Essential Skill Beyond the Digital Sector
Demand for training on these issues increasingly comes from companies whose core business is not digital.
The energy, industrial, and infrastructure sectors are undergoing rapid digital transformation. They now depend on cloud solutions, business software, integrated platforms, connected devices, and artificial intelligence systems.
This development requires legal departments to strengthen their understanding of technology and the associated risks. Without such knowledge, they may find it difficult to contribute effectively to the company’s strategic decisions.
Developing legal professionals’ expertise in technology-related issues is therefore no longer optional. It directly affects their ability to secure projects, negotiate contracts effectively, and communicate with operational teams.
What Measures Can Improve Cooperation Between Legal and IT Teams?
Several measures can be implemented to improve cooperation between legal and IT teams:
- organize joint training sessions on IT contracts and the main technologies used by the company;
- involve legal professionals from the initial definition of requirements and the drafting of specifications;
- create shared risk-assessment frameworks;
- formalize legal review points at the various stages of a project;
- establish a shared vocabulary for technical and contractual matters;
- organize lessons-learned sessions following major projects.
The objective is not to add another layer of control. It is to enable legal and technical teams to make decisions together that are safer, faster, and better aligned with the practical realities of the project.
Bénédicte DELEPORTE
Avocat
Deleporte Wentz Avocat
www.dwavocat.com
July 2026