Kristen Harris, legal director for Harley-Davidson in Asia-Pacific, talks to Elizabeth Broomhall about her drive to get more legal advisers, navigating Asian riding laws and why she loves her job

Racing around Asia to manage the dealership network of America's best-known motorcycle manufacturer is all in a day's work for Kristen Harris. As Harley-Davidson's legal director for Asia-Pacific and one of just three Harley lawyers in the region, she refers to herself as more of a 'jack of all trades' than her US colleagues (who are 20 in number with each focusing on specialist practice areas), but this doesn't stop her from loving her job.

"I'm not a rider, but it's on my list of things to do," she laughs. "[The job is] fun, it's exciting – we create products that are fun to ride and they're cool to be around. The people who ride the bikes are fans, and they are amazing; they're diverse, they're unique and every one of them has an interesting story to tell, which makes the work cool."

Harley ownership has increasingly become an indulgence of the urban professional classes: the cost of a gleaming chrome machine ranges from £7,145 to £30,295, with the typical bike coming in at around £17,000. Maintenance and running costs are high – think Rolls-Royce or high-end Mercedes, but on two wheels.

It's no surprise then that only 15% of Harley buyers are under 35, with the median age of owners being 47. A prestige brand for the aspirant and the already affluent, Harley taps perfectly into burgeoning Asian consumerism, often characterised by an insatiable collective appetite for luxury, status brands.

Harris does not meet these well-heeled customers often since, in all 17 Asian countries where Harley operates, products are sold directly to dealers. But she does try and attend a couple of major gatherings each year, such as the HOG (Harley Owners Group) rallies in China and Japan.

Naturally it is her job to deal with all the behind-the-scenes legal issues for these events – from signing the rock bands and making sure the proper licences and insurance schemes are obtained for test drives, to checking that the venue has all the right safety standards.

But the day-to-day work mostly revolves around dealer contracts and logistics agreements, as well as things like HR issues and office leasing. Choosing new dealers presents a fairly constant challenge given the depth of discussion required. "The legal issues include making sure the partner is the right person and that they understand the complexities of working for a US company and all of the rules and regulations that are involved," Harris explains. "As a public company in the US, when we're looking for partners they need to be able to understand all the specific restrictions that entails.

"As a US company, anti-corruption is something that we have to take seriously and [we make sure] they understand the obligations behind what we're saying [about the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and the UK anti-bribery laws]. In Asia where the law is still evolving – to be upfront with these dealers is challenging sometimes."

Safety first
Safety concerns are also important, with some of the work coming under Harris' remit while the rest is handled by a regional product compliance specialist. While Harley has a team in the US handling warranty, product continuity and product safety, Harris says applying and interpreting these policies in Asia and in the context of regional laws is not always easy, and gives rise to a whole scope of work trying to localise policies.

"Product compliance generally is a huge area. [For example] how do we do a safety recall in Asia based on US regulations and laws that may well not apply? In India until last year there was no mandatory recall law for motor vehicles – they were all voluntary. We had to ask dealers to comply with our rules. As an American company we do this because it's the right thing to do, even if it might not be required by law."

Aside from Harris, the legal team includes an India-based attorney who assists her in-country, and a brand enforcement officer for the region based in Singapore, whose job is to manage investigations into counterfeiting, including everything from locating where the fake products are being sold to tracking down the source and working with Chinese police and other authorities in the region to clamp down on the trade. Raids and investigations are common, and sometimes manufacturers are closed down.

Working with governments on the legal landscape for motorbike riding is, however, the job of another officer, although Harris says the position is currently vacant. In Asia this kind of work is particularly important given the regional diversity of laws and the fact that so many countries are still evolving.

"We're in the process of hiring a new government affairs person," she explains. "In certain places motorcycles above a certain cc are not allowed. For example, in Sri Lanka they have just opened up to motorcycles of up to 1,000ccs, but until November it was nothing over 250ccs. Our lowest is 500cc and that's the new motorcycle we produce out of India called Street 500."

Harley-Davidson India started in August 2009, appointing its first dealership a year later; it now has 15 dealership facilities across the country. In 2011 the company also set up an assembly unit at Bawal, Haryana, which has begun exports to Europe.
In contrast to India, where the motorbike is king, Harris adds that in China and parts of Korea they are not allowed on certain roadways. "[We] are trying to work with local governments to try and do some of that proactive work to show that over our 110 years of history we've worked hard to make sure vehicles are safe and road-ready, and so these rules and restrictions should be reviewed."

Looking out for law firms
Since the internal legal team is fairly small, Harris says she relies heavily on external counsel for support, and that this is the business model across the company. General policies and overriding issues are handled at the US head office in Milwaukee, but often there will be specific Asia-aspects to deal with.
Within Asia, she predominantly uses Baker & McKenzie, mainly because of the firm's extensive geographical footprint, which can make it more efficient to execute similar processes in different countries. But Harley has also gone to firms such as Winston & Strawn in Shanghai, Khaitan & Co in India and some mid-sized firms in South Korea. "Our brand protection and trademark work tends to be more diverse; they use a larger group of people," she says.

"I am looking at and always interested in thinking about second-source firms. Because as we continue to grow here in the region [and the people we're working with grow] there are going to be conflicts.

"How we do it is still open for debate. In the US we've gone for an innovative flat-fee structure with most of our attorneys. So one of the things that we may consider [in more mature markets] in Asia as we grow is doing that as well. If we do that it will certainly involve a request for proposal and telling us based on historical work what they would and wouldn't be able to cover under a flat fee."

However, Harris adds that fixed fees probably wouldn't be applicable in smaller or less-developed markets where work may be difficult to price in this way. But that's just one possible alternative, she says, hinting that there could be some time to go before any formal process is put in place.

"Our office has been out here for four years, we're still so new and growing so fast. The law department is still very reactionary. When you're growing year-on-year at greater than 10%, it's difficult to be proactive and say I am going to have flat-fee arrangements or a panel. It's more: I've got a fire to fight in Kuala Lumpur so who's my best counsel and how do I get it done?"

The road ahead
As for recent achievements, Harris says she is just coming to the end of a project to consolidate the dealer network in Japan. Historically, Harley has dealt with a string of sub-dealers (those without a direct relationship with the company), who in turn bought products from one of its authorised dealers before selling on to customers.
"That channel has changed and the sub-dealer model has gone away," she notes.

"Over the next year or so as we finalise things there will be some new dealer contracts coming in. Japan was one of our first subsidiaries in Asia so the network just needed a refresh. Some of the dealers had been there for 40 years. That was how Japanese motor vehicle companies did it. The typical Japanese consumer wasn't willing to travel to buy a bike – they wanted the guy down the street. Today that has changed."

Other than this, Harris' major project is to support the company's ambitious plans for regional growth, primarily in Southeast Asia: "We're going to be setting up new dealers. We're probably on target for significant expansion. And getting products to countries where we see good middle class growth – where the customer base is upper and middle class.

"Hopefully we will hire more lawyers; not in the next six months to a year, but, if I had to say I had one challenge for the year, that would be resource planning, and how best to do the work."

—————————————————————————————————————————-Kristen Harris CV
2011-present – legal director, Harley-Davidson, Singapore
2001-11 – regional in-house counsel, Texas Instruments, Taipei and Singapore
1999-2001 – foreign legal consultant, Taiwan International Patent & Law Office
1994-97 – attorney, US firm Haugeberg Rueter Gowell Fredricks & Higgins

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Harley-Davidson in Asia
Head office: Singapore
Employees: 350-400
Subsidiaries in: India, China, Australia and Japan
Annual legal spend: $1m (£671,00)
Regional growth: 11% during 2014
Dealers in: Australia, China, Guam, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam
Products: bikes, parts and accessories, functional riding equipment: helmets, gloves, riding jeans, general merchandise (from t-shirts and other clothing to bar stools and coffee cups), leather jackets and other apparel
Legal team: legal director, India-based attorney and brand enforcement officer, in addition to government affairs officer