Product Counsel

Advise, Innovate, and Inspire

By (author) Olga Mack, Adrienne Go

Publication date:

29 October 2024

Length of book:

225 pages

Publisher

Globe Law and Business

ISBN-13: 9781837230433

Product Counsel: A Practical Framework for Advising Throughout the Product Life Cycle offers a pioneering exploration into the emerging discipline of product law. Authored by Olga V. Mack and Adrienne Go, this comprehensive guide equips readers with the knowledge and tools necessary to navigate the complexities of today's dynamic business and regulatory landscape. Product law stands at the intersection of law, business, and technology, shaping numerous emerging industries. This book provides an indepth examination of this evolving field, offering insights into its development, requisite skills for practitioners, and the broader legal and regulatory environment. The framework presented isn't just theoretical - it's a practical roadmap for understanding and applying the principles of product law in real world scenarios. Illustrating the principles outlined in the book are a variety of typical case studies and checklists. Through these narratives, readers gain valuable insights into the challenges and opportunities faced by product lawyers, enabling them to put into practice the book’s concepts. Olga V. Mack, a general counsel and digital transformation executive, is renowned for her expertise at the intersection of law, technology, and business. Adrienne Go, a product and regulatory leader, brings comprehensive experience in integrating legal, technological, and business considerations into product development. Together, they offer a wealth of knowledge and insight into the evolving field of product law. While numerous publications address specific aspects of technology law, none offer the comprehensive analytical framework presented in Product Counsel. This book fills a critical gap in the market, providing readers with a holistic perspective on product law that is both actionable and informative. In a world marked by technological disruption and innovation, Product Counsel emerges as an indispensable resource for legal practitioners, tech entrepreneurs, business leaders, and students alike. By merging theory with practice, this book equips readers with the knowledge and skills needed to thrive in the evolving intersection of law, business, and technology. With its practical insights and forward-thinking approach, it promises to be a valuable addition to any professional library.

Dedications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi About the authors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xv Chapter 1: Product counsel’s evolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Product counsel: A (loose) definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 The evolution of product counsel – historical perspectives and milestones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Chapter 2: Product counsel’s value to a business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Drive the business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Growing through risk-taking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Business regulatory compliance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Valuable intellectual property assets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Growth through business partnerships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Coaches deliver wins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Chapter 3: Product counseling with a framework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Chapter 4: Understanding product development basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 The product lifecycle – overview and opportunities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Framework tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 How to work with product management teams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Chapter 5: Developing a product counsel mindset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Be a trusted partner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Drive the business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 Think customer-first . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 Speak the language and develop technical conversancy . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 Refine visual intelligence quotient . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 Be agile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 Chapter 6: Knowing your business, customer, product, and industry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 Know the business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 Know the customer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 Know your product . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 Know your industry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 Chapter 7: Learning the law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 Geographic legal analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 Business and customer segment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 Industry-specific laws . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96 Product counseling resources and monitoring changes and trends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98 Chapter 8: Taking smart risks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 What is risk? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 Identify potential impacts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105 Assess potential impact . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107 Develop mitigation strategies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108 Consider the upside . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109 Internal training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109 Collaboration and communication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110 Roadmap shaping – flags and t-shirt sizing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110 Continuous improvement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115 Chapter 9: Understanding your regulators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 Inventory your regulators at all levels: knowing your allies in the regulatory landscape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118 Building positive relationships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123 Chapter 10: Championing consumer protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125 Customer segmentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125 Geographic differences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126 Industry segmentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126 Consumer protection starting point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128 Chapter 11: Managing product liability risks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141 Product liability basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141 Product design and development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141 Chapter 12: Advising on commercial agreements for your product . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145 Agreements with customers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145 Agreements with partners/suppliers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150 Mode of contracting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154 Business velocity considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157 Product lawyering and evolving trends in contracting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157 Chapter 13: Collecting, storing, and using data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159 Understand your data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160 Map data flows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164 Collect and use data responsibly and legally . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165 Safeguarding data – storage and security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168 Unlocking the value: data usage and analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169 Staying ahead – emerging data trends and future considerations . . . 171 Chapter 14: Protecting your intellectual property and open-source considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175 IP protection – safeguarding innovations and trade secrets . . . . . . . . . 175 Unleashing open-source . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180 Chapter 15: Considering global perspectives –international regulations and cross-border challenges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187 Applicability of global laws . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187 Physical products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188 Digital products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189 Harmonization and divergence of regulations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190 Cultural and language considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190 Chapter 16: Issue-spotting other legal specialty areas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193 Antitrust . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193 Tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193 Maritime law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194 Money and investment regulations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195 Employment law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195 Environmental law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196 Healthcare and life sciences law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196 Workplace compliance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197 Chapter 17: Handling emergencies and reputational risks in a crisis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199 Counsel’s role in a crisis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199 Developing crisis response plans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199 Communication readiness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200 Data incidents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201 Handling product recalls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202 Working with regulatory authorities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202 Post-crisis evaluation and improvement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204 Chapter 18: Balancing business goals and ethical responsibilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207 Understanding ethical considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207 Ethical decision-making frameworks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208 Ethics codes, standards, and guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208 Promoting a culture of ethics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210 Social responsibility and sustainability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211 Whistleblower protection programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211 Chapter 19: Anticipating emerging technologies with their legal implications and opportunities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213 Introduction to emerging technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213 IP Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214 Data privacy and security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214 Regulatory compliance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215 Ethical and social considerations in new technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215 Conclusion: Coach to win . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217 Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219 About Globe Law and Business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225

This is a must-read for any product lawyer who wants to be a trusted business partner. Adrienne and Olga have written the quintessential guide for lawyers at every level. It’s engaging and so useful with practical advice, tips, and the checklists you’ve always wanted to have at your fingertips. I highly recommend.