1. 7/5/16 11:47 AMDaily Journal - California's Largest Legal News Provider
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TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY TODAY
Robert H. Rieders
General Counsel
Postmates Inc.
San Francisco
Size of legal department:Size of legal department: 2 attorneys
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Robert H. Rieders
GC of Postmates Inc., Robert Rieders, is helping the courier
service startup cover new ground.
Postmates Inc., a courier service
set up through mobile phone
applications, prides itself on being
what company founder Bastian
Lehmann has described as an "anti-
Amazon system."
Using GPS technology, a consumer
can order anything from coffee to
lunch to a new laptop or printer - and
get it delivered.
According to the company, couriers
can cycle or drive and can make up to
$25 per hour. They're classified as
independent contractors.
Since launching in 2011, Postmates
has raised roughly $138 million in
seven rounds of financing, the most
recent being an $80 million Series D
last summer. The company employs
345 people and has a presence in
scores of cities across25 states.
Like many companies carving out a presence in a new market - particularly in the so-
called "gig economy" - litigation is bound to surface, said lead in-house attorney Robert
H. Rieders.
Rieders said Postmates is currently contending with a national class action dealing
with employee classification, similar to the wave of cases against Uber Technologies
Inc. Sherry Singer et al v. Postmates Inc., CV-01248 (N.D. Cal., filed March 19, 2015).
Another pending class action against Postmates accuses the company of violating the
Fair Credit Reporting Act during its background checks of couriers because it allegedly
didn't disclose the entire process to the applicants. Loretta Nesbitt v. Postmates Inc,
CV-04052 (N.D. Cal., filed Sept. 4, 2015.
00:00 -1:05:24
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2. 7/5/16 11:47 AMDaily Journal - California's Largest Legal News Provider
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Corporate Counsel
Robert H. Rieders
General Counsel
Postmates Inc. (San Francisco)
California Courts of Appeal
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By Michael W. McConnell
Rieders started his career with what is now Clifford Chance LLP and later Stein
Kahan & Rosenberg, a Los Angeles entertainment litigation boutique. He moved in-
house in 1996 with 20th Century Fox Television and followed that with stints at
Lucasfilm Ltd., Pixar Animation Studios and the social networking company Path Inc.
Daily Journal Staff Writer Banks Albach recently spoke with Rieders to discuss his
work at Postmates. Here is an edited transcript of their conversation.
Daily Journal: Describe Postmates. It's a delivery service, but what else
can you add regarding how the company is disrupting the status quo?
Rieders: Postmates is first and foremost a logistics company. With more than
25,000 couriers, Postmates operates the largest on-demand delivery fleet in the U.S.,
serving 40 major metropolitan markets. What makes Postmates unique is the ability to
have anything delivered. Whether it's food, a retail item, or something from the
pharmacy, Postmates is the only on-demand delivery company that can handle any type
of order.
DJ: What's the company's source of revenue and how has the company
grown?
Rieders: In terms of revenue, we've always been focused on our margins, making
sure the company is on track to profit. From the beginning we charged a service fee on
top of the delivery fee. In the beginning of 2015, we began partnering with merchants
and taking a commission on those orders. We most recently introduced a subscription
service, Plus Unlimited, which gives a customer unlimited deliveries for $9.99 per
month. The company has grown rapidly over the last few years. We're now completing
1.5 million deliveries per month.
DJ: Are there other departments, regulatory and compliance, for
example, that you work with?
Rieders: The legal department works across all departments of the company.
Nothing here gets negotiated, signed or clicked-through without our review. We
oversee legal issues related to risk/insurance, finance, business development,
operations and product [divisions]. We also play a direct role in advising the board of
directors, fundraising and M&A activity.
DJ: What law firms do you work with?
Rieders: The best part of my job is working with outside counsel, period. I worked
with Rob Hulteng of Littler Mendelson when I was GC of Lucas Digital, a division of
Lucasfilm, over a decade ago, and Littler continues to handle employment and labor
issues for Postmates via Rob, Andrew Spurchise, Mel M.C. Cole, William Simmons, Rod
Fliegel, and others.
I also consult with Cheryl Orr at Drinker Biddle, a firm that handled some complex
litigation for me at Path.
On the corporate side, I work with Wilson Sonsini, who I also worked with when I
was associate general counsel at Pixar, and later as GC at Path, the private social
network. I work with Yoichiro Taku and his team, Lyman Thai, Hans Kim, and Jason
Koo. Aaron Hendelman and Nathan Ferguson work on my intellectual property and e-
commerce issues, and David Kramer advises on internet law and strategy.
For real estate, I work with Paul Kawakami at Kawakami Barron & Lam. Paul and I
worked together when he was an outside attorney for Pixar.
DJ: What are your main legal challenges and concerns?
Rieders: Privacy and security are front and center at Postmates. On privacy, we
have to be thoughtful with respect to the privacy of both the couriers and our
customers, many of whom are notable celebrities, Serena Williams, Kevin Durant, Katy
Perry, Anna Kendrick, to name a few. The big challenge, of course, is the present state
of the law with respect to the gig economy, and whether couriers are independent

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U.S. Supreme Court
Unlawful stops legitimized after the fact?
A stop led to a request for ID, which led to a call to
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outstanding warrants, which led to the discovery of
an unpaid traffic ticket, which led to a physical
search and the discovery of paraphernalia. By
Marc Rotenberg
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Judicial Profile
Carter Holly
Superior Court Judge
San Joaquin County (Stockton)
Labor/Employment
Uber lawyers must produce reams of
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Lawyers in the Uber Technologies Inc.
misclassification lawsuit must produce a mountain
of information U.S. District Judge Edward M.
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might not have.
contractors or employees. Being a start-up, fundraising is always something I am
working on, as well as M&A activity as we acquire companies that can help scale the
business. We also have literally thousands of merchant partners, so we're always
working with them to make sure that the platform is helping drive business.
DJ: What about labor and employment? Your drivers are 1099s. What
are your challenges handling that relationship?
Rieders: Labor and employment issues are definitely on the radar. Postmates
couriers are independent contractors, or 1099s, and we continue to believe that our
present model makes sense. Among other things, the platform allows drivers the
flexibility to set their own hours, and work for Postmates and anyone else.
DJ: What's the most in-demand product from your consumers? Do you
process that data and use it strategically?
Rieders: The majority of our customers order from our Anywhere product, which is
the original Postmates. It allows a customer to order from wherever they'd like,
regardless if we have a formal partnership with that merchant. We use all of the data
that we collect to make decisions around the product, market expansion, which
merchants we prioritize, et cetera. All of the data is used for internal purposes only. We
never share identifiable customer data with our merchant partners.
DJ: Where is the company heading now? How is it transitioning?
Rieders: We've been on a real growth trajectory of late. As I said before, we just
launched a subscription service, which has really taken off. Our current focus is to
continue to grow our Plus, or preferred, partnerships, so we can offer customers even
more choice and a lower price point. We are also working to diversify the products on
the platform. We'll be launching new categories and moving away from just being a
"food delivery" company.
DJ: What type of disputes does Postmates contend with? Any litigation
you can speak about?
Rieders: As a growing, innovative business we do have disputes. For example,
there's a nationwide lawsuit against us alleging that the couriers who use our platform
are misclassified as independent contractors. We're facing a nationwide challenge to
our background check practices, which has its own classification issues. There are also
the day-to-day challenges of operating a platform that benefits independent
contractors. It's a completely new area of law, so it attracts challenges. In California, the
seminal case deciding the issue is based on cucumber pickers. Of course plaintiffs'
attorneys are going to take advantage of all that undecided territory. Postmates, like
other on-demand companies, is at the forefront. It's going to be interesting to see where
it goes.
DJ: What are your plans for growing the legal department?
Rieders: I definitely have plans to grow the department, but I want to grow with
moderation and purpose. As the company grows, I plan to grow the department in
corporate, real estate, litigation, product/privacy, and commercial. But I also want to
grow the department at the right pace. I want to continue to hire talented folks who,
most importantly, enjoy working together. To build a cohesive team, you need to take it
slowly to make sure you have the right fit.
banks_albach@dailiyjournal.com
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