What if your legal advice could shape how products are designed, built, and launched—not just protect them after the fact? That’s exactly the opportunity the product counsel career path offers to in-house lawyers. They are ready to shift from risk management to innovation enablement. As businesses race to innovate, product lawyers are stepping into a more strategic and user-centered role. They are at the heart of product development and crucial for navigating the product counsel career path.
Robert Esposito. He is a senior legal director who has worked as a product lawyer at leading tech companies like Pandora and Facebook. Robert’s transition from IP litigator to product counsel offers a compelling blueprint. It shows how lawyers can position themselves as legal architects within fast-moving product teams.
Watch the full conversation with Robert Esposito here:
Defining the Product Counsel Career Path: Legal Architect of the Product
Robert describes the product lawyer as more than just a subject matter expert—they’re the legal architect of the product. That means working alongside product managers, engineers, and designers. The product lawyer shapes how a product functions and interacts with users while staying compliant with the law, embodying the elements of the product counsel career path.
This role demands a high level of legal fluency, but also a deep understanding of product goals, user behavior, and business drivers. Product lawyers aren’t waiting for problems to arise—they’re anticipating risk and designing legal safeguards. These safeguards enhance rather than hinder innovation.
How Product Lawyers Tailor Legal Advice to Users and Industry
A product lawyer’s responsibilities vary by sector. In B2C tech, the focus may be on privacy, consumer protection, and advertising compliance. In the nonprofit or education space, it could be about tax exemptions, safeguarding minors, or accessibility. Each sector presents unique opportunities within the product counsel career path.
Regardless of industry, user experience is central. Robert encourages product lawyers to think like a user: Where could confusion lead to complaints? What might trigger regulatory scrutiny? By listening to customer feedback and identifying potential friction points, lawyers can prevent legal risks from becoming business problems.
Building a Career in Product Law
Breaking into the product counsel space doesn’t require a background in engineering—but it does require curiosity, communication skills, and commercial thinking. Robert emphasizes the importance of networking, studying the business side of the product, and building a story. This connects your legal experience to product goals and aids in the product counsel career path.
Substantive knowledge of issues like data privacy or consumer law is helpful, but so is demonstrating your ability to collaborate cross-functionally. Product teams need legal partners who understand their priorities. They need partners who can help navigate constraints without blocking innovation.
Advancing Your Product Counsel Career Path Through Industry Experience
Robert also encourages lawyers to broaden their experience by moving across industries or product types. Each new environment presents unfamiliar legal issues. Mastering the skill of quickly learning, adapting, and asking the right questions makes a product lawyer resilient, a crucial part of the product counsel career path.
This flexibility builds a mental framework you can apply to future roles. With every new product, you sharpen your instincts for identifying risk early. Also, you build scalable, compliant solutions from the ground up.
Regulators, Risks, and the Road Ahead
Understanding how regulators think is essential. Robert recommends studying enforcement trends, not just statutes, to better anticipate how regulatory priorities will affect your product. What are watchdogs looking at today? What legal failures made the headlines last quarter?
By staying a step ahead, product lawyers can become proactive risk managers who not only protect the company but also empower teams to build with confidence.
The product counsel career path isn’t just a role—it’s a mindset. It blends legal strategy, user empathy, and cross-functional leadership. For in-house counsel ready to move from the sidelines to the center of innovation, product law is the place to be to pursue a fulfilling product counsel career.
Watch the full conversation here: Notes to My (Legal) Self: Season 4, Episode 13 (ft.Robert Esposito)
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