Product Counseling at Nest, Apple, and a Climate Change Startup: Vineet Shahani, GC, Mill

Key insights

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1. Environmental Law is Following the Privacy Trajectory.

Shahani argues that environmental compliance today mirrors privacy law 12 years ago. With Europe leading on regulation, a surge in government investment (e.g., Inflation Reduction Act), and a generational divide in consumer expectations, lawyers who master this ambiguous space now will be the industry leaders of the next decade.

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2. Hit a Single" to Overcome Career Inertia.

During economic downturns, professionals often wait for the perfect "pitch" that never comes. Shahani suggests taking opportunities that might lack brand name recognition but offer base-level experience, as "getting on base" allows you to build a narrative that eventually leads to top-tier roles.

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3. Lawyers Should "De-credential" to Build Better Networks.

To transition into leadership or advisory roles, lawyers must develop networks outside the legal community. This requires "de-credentialing"—moving past legal labels to find common ground with designers, engineers, and entrepreneurs on topics like product strategy and tech.

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4. Embrace the "Wave" Approach in Startups.

In a startup, seeking 100% perfection is often a sign of poor performance. Legal teams must adopt the product team’s iterative mindset: focus on "Wave 1" (getting the product out and mitigating immediate consumer harm) and plan for Wave 2 and 3 to clean up policies and cost structures as the company scales.

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5. Closing insight

Your ability to counsel a CEO effectively depends on your willingness to leave the "four corners" of a traditional legal job description and act as a co-pilot in the company's strategic journey. Transitioning from a specialist to a strategic generalist is the only way to earn a permanent seat at the executive table.