Thomsons has strengthened its Technology, Telecommunications and Media capabilities, appointing Luke Standen as a Partner and Julie Cheeseman as a Special Counsel.

Together, they round out the firm’s offering across the full tech life cycle — from front-end structuring, procurement and contracting on major projects, to the back-end disputes, regulatory and incident response work that follows when things go wrong.

Standen joins from Gilbert + Tobin, where he spent almost eight years, most recently as Special Counsel in the firm’s Technology + Digital team.

He specialises in complex, high-value digital transformation, technology, telecom and outsourcing projects, with a focus on regulated sectors like financial services, telecommunications, space, healthcare. His work spans procurement strategy through to contract finalisation and exit, plus AI implementation, data commercialisation, telco regulation and privacy.

Cheeseman joins from Bird & Bird, where she was a Partner in the firm’s media, entertainment and technology practice.

Her practice covers complex disputes and regulatory issues for media organisations, digital platforms and tech companies, including data breach response, content regulation and disputes involving billing, e-Health and satellite transmission systems.

Chief Executive Partner Adrian Tembel said the appointments reflected growing client demand for strategic advice as organisations ramp up investment in tech and AI while facing rising regulatory scrutiny.

“Technology is transforming every sector of the Australian economy and our clients are navigating increasingly complex legal and commercial issues as they adopt new technologies,” he said.

“Luke and Julie bring highly complementary technology capabilities to Thomsons, further strengthening our ability to support clients across the full technology life cycle.”

Source: Thomsons