What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years?

As eBay focused on our core e-commerce business over the course of the pandemic, we consummated a $9.2bn sale of our classifieds business to Adevinta, as well as a $3bn sale of an 80% stake in our off-platform Korea business. We also completed the transition of most eBay sellers onto our new Managed Payments platform, which is expected to deliver over $2bn in revenue in 2022. On the public interest side, we helped develop an online platform for the UK NHS to facilitate distribution of protective gear to health care workers dealing with Covid-19 and broke records in charitable giving through our eBay for Charity initiative. But in many ways, the most exciting developments have been around the steps we have taken to improve the eBay experience for our buyers and sellers. These include launch of an authentication service for high-value items; expansion of our industry-leading collectibles and trading cards verticals and launch of NFT sales; and development of unique local initiatives like eBay Cities in Germany, estimation and live auctions in France, and a small business partnership with the English Football League.

How do you suggest in-house lawyers build strong relationships with business partners?

It is critical for a legal function to be viewed as a trusted advisor and partner to the business, rather than as an adversary or bottleneck. That is best accomplished by understanding the business down to its roots, and by having a seat at the table as early and often as possible. As in-house counsel, our role is to find solutions, not problems, and we should always strive for outcomes that work all around. We absolutely need to ensure compliance and protect the business against major risks, but we also need to empower the business to succeed.

Have any new laws, regulations or judicial decisions greatly impacted your company’s business or your legal practice?

eBay takes legal compliance very seriously, and the pace and level of change in the regulatory landscapes in which we operate have created constant challenges in recent years. As a technology company, changes in the Privacy realm – arising from Schrems II, GDPR and new regulations from California, Brazil or APAC, to name a few – mean we have had to constantly reassess and shift our approach on topics from cookie banners to data protection. Emerging tax regulations like Collect & Remit, DAC-7, DSTs and the US INFORM Acts have required both technological and legal adjustments. And despite being a company that has always been deeply focused on the Circular Economy, the myriad new rules and regulations arising across multiple jurisdictions on sustainability, packaging and recycling have mandated a whole new world of challenges.