Team size: Five

What are some of the legal challenges that IT companies face in the development and use of emerging technologies in their products?

IT companies are developing new technologies faster than legislators can introduce laws to govern their use. It is common nowadays for technology companies to introduce new products and find that the laws governing certain features are either outdated, yet to come into being, or untested. In addition, different jurisdictions will typically have different legal standards. This means that product teams are faced with the trade-off between, on the one hand, developing multiple versions of a product for different markets to capitalise on different levels of stringency in regulation or, on the other hand, releasing a single global product which is governed by the most restrictive laws. This presents a challenge; building a product to the current European privacy and consumer protection laws for example, will satisfy those standards in Europe, but it does not guarantee compliance elsewhere and may result in the release of a sub-optimal product.

In what ways do you see the in-house legal role evolving in your region over the next few years?

The role of product counsel is becoming more and more popular in the staffing of legal departments as it is regarded as a conduit between the product and business teams on the one hand, and the more specialised subject matter experts in the areas of privacy, regulatory, competition, and commercial on the other. There has also been more of a geographic decentralising of the product and engineering teams in-house lawyers work with, with the pandemic, remote working, and other factors moving people away from traditional hubs like the Bay Area in particular. As a result, EU-based in-house lawyers may be more likely to find themselves working with business teams closer to their own time zones as people realise that they do not necessarily need to live beside the company headquarters.

What are the most significant cases and/or transactions that your legal team has recently been involved in? 

Our team advised on the roll out of a new directory feature within WhatsApp, initially available in São Paulo, and supported WhatsApp’s business and commerce features including the impressive growth of our Click to WhatsApp Ad product. We’ve also worked on initiatives to combat Covid misinformation and advised the teams dealing with government authorities and NGOs working on their respective countries’ vaccine rollout programmes. In addition, over the past year we have supported the rollout of privacy policy and terms of service updates for our over two billion users and dealt with regulatory requests across multiple jurisdictions in respect of those updates, including most notably the Irish Data Protection Commission’s long-running inquiry.

As we enter the next decade, what skills will a corporate legal team need to succeed in the modern in-house industry?

Staying nimble will be key. Company priorities can quickly change due to internal or external factors, or a combination of both. Having the ability and the capacity to pivot the team with the business will be vital. Also, keeping on top of emerging legislation will be crucial in helping the business with its product roadmap and ensuring the rollout of sustainably compliant products and features.