Counsel to Counsel - November 2008 - (Page 10) best practices ProJECT MANAGEMENT: New Product review— 15 Countries, Five Days JAY C. CLEMENS | EBAY As senior vice president and deputy general counsel of San Jose, Calif.-based eBay, Jay C. Clemens oversees the company’s litigation, IP, corporate and legal operations. He can be reached at jclemens@ebay.com. implementation steps • Appoint a lead lawyer for the project and a highly collaborative project team. • Define the roles and levels of authority for the team’s members. Schedule regular meetings and use technology to maximize collaboration and project management. • Constantly re-evaluate project decisions and their impacts at all levels. • Partner with the business to develop new options for risk mitigation in the product model. In this case, we use a hypothetical situation. Imagine that eBay is considering a new Web site called “eBay Barterland” in 15 countries. It will launch in major markets in the united States, Germany and the united Kingdom and other markets in Europe and Asia. users will list items and services they wish to swap. eBay will charge a listing fee while assuming no responsibility for the transactions. Potential issues include liability for illegal products or services; fraudulent transactions or substandard merchandise; domestic and international tax and revenue recognition issues; and possible false advertising claims. eBay has local in-house lawyers in each of the 15 countries, along with regional subject matter experts. situation and parties to be Informed). Identify the ultimate business approver for the overall project. See a sample project chart at http://www.martindale.com/go/ebaybp.ppt. As the process moves forward, constantly re-evaluate whether the decisions to be made have local or global implications. Based on the evolving legal recommendations, work with the business to develop new options for mitigating risk in the product model. In order to implement the barter platform in time for the holiday season, the project requires a go/no-go decision within five days. The legal department has been asked to advise on the complex legal and regulatory issues in all potential markets within the five-day period. challenge in-house counsel measuring success Was advice comprehensive, business-focused and delivered on time? Did the Legal project team develop alternative strategies and options, when necessary, for the product launch? Was the project team’s advice effective in mitigating risk over time? This project requires a centrally coordinated global team that can determine when legal policies, product modifications and risk mitigation strategies need to be local, regional or global. To accomplish this objective, eBay’s legal department should consider using standard techniques and tools for managing the project and clarifying decisionmaking authority. approach adopted future issues to consider Conduct a post-mortem to determine how to improve the process for the next comparable project. The post-mortem may also reveal conflicts and weaknesses within the legal organization structure which can then be corrected. After the new platform is launched, legal developments should be carefully monitored in each country to ensure that adequate resources are spent on government relations outreach and risk mitigation. Developments in some countries may impact the legal landscape in others. Appoint a lead lawyer for the project and a highly collaborative group of lawyers for the project team. Team members should be able to provide the full range of legal input needed for the project, but the group should be kept as small as possible to reduce churn. Consider whether global or regional subject matter experts can take the place of multiple local lawyers. Define the role of the project team and schedule regular meetings. Consider using internal wikis and other IT tools for collaboration and project management. Clarify the authority/role of each project team member in making decisions under a RASCI model (designate the Responsible team lead, the Approver, Supporting team members, Consultants, 10 LexisNexis® Martindale-Hubbell® http://www.martindale.com/go/ebaybp.ppt
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