Scott Steinberg · Consultant, Analyst and Business Strategist
Consumer protection matters are among the most common, high-profile and impactful legal matters today. A consultant to 3000+ brands across consumer products, retail and online services, and more, Scott Steinberg helps put facts in context for law firms and attorneys.
Expert reports, declarations, deposition and trial testimony on deceptive and unfair practices, pricing and fee disclosure, subscription and auto-renewal terms, product liability, advertising, marketing, warranty representations, consumer understanding of commercial offers and more.
Attorneys often ask what the presentation conveyed, what the industry treated as acceptable at the time, and whether the practice was applied consistently across customers.
Legal pros frequently ask what the offer communicated as a whole, including implications the copy never states, given how it was formatted and where it appeared.
Testimony addresses sample areas like how the presentation was constructed and how it compared to what the category treated as acceptable at that point.
Disputes examine when each component of a price became visible, what proportion of the total was withheld until late, and whether the advertised figure resembled what customers paid.
Testimony documents the disclosure sequence and sets it against pricing presentation convention in that market.
Recurring billing matters examine enrollment disclosure, trial conversion, renewal notice, price change handling and what the customer was told at each stage.
Testimony addresses convention across the period and how the implementation compared for the population concerned.
Guarantees, satisfaction promises and warranty terms carry commercial expectations that frequently exceed what the fine print delivers.
Testimony addresses what such representations customarily meant in the category and how claims under them were actually administered.
Disputes examine what representatives were authorized and incentivized to say, how consent to purchase was captured, and whether confirmation practice matched the commitment being made.
Testimony addresses sales practice convention and what the interaction record shows about customer treatment.
Packaging communicates through imagery, quantity presentation, comparative framing and qualifying text placed where few customers read it.
Testimony addresses labeling convention in the category and where the presentation departed from what the trade treated as acceptable stylization.
Where research is offered on what consumers took from an offer, its stimulus design, population and controls determine how much weight it carries.
Testimony assesses whether the study modeled real purchasing conditions and what its results can properly support.
Disclosure and presentation conventions have tightened considerably, so conduct has to be judged against the standard in force when it occurred.
Testimony establishes that baseline from published guidance, platform requirements and what comparable sellers were doing in the same period.
Consumer matters frequently depend on how an offer looked at a specific moment, and marketing and interface evidence is rarely archived by the seller. Any party may instruct.
Written opinions on areas like offer presentation, disclosure adequacy and industry practice at the relevant time.
Testimony on sample topics such as what an ordinary consumer would have understood from the transaction as presented.
Responsive analysis of consumer understanding assertions, survey design and industry norm characterizations.
Non-testifying reconstruction of offer and marketing history, plus discovery scoping for presentation evidence.
Scott Steinberg is an analyst, consultant and business trends expert with over 25 years of experience providing management and strategic consulting services to more than 3,000 businesses and brands ranging from startups to government agencies and Fortune 500 firms.
He has testified in sample areas including intellectual property — copyrights, trademarks and patents — patent infringement, marketing, branding, video games, mobile applications, consumer product development, and the growth and monetization of online distribution platforms.
He is the author of over 30 books and has published more than five thousand articles addressing areas including but not limited to marketing, technology, leadership, innovation, advertising, digital transformation, data privacy and social networks. He appears regularly on ABC, CBS, CNN and NBC, and has led seminars and training programs for organizations including Wells Fargo, the PGA Tour, Century 21, Ford, Dell and Procter & Gamble.
His consulting work has been broadly recognized. He has served as a thought leader for the American Bar Association and Corporate Counsel magazine, and has received honors from the International Association for Scholastic Excellence, Fortune, and the 21st Century Icon Awards, among others.
Often, what an ordinary consumer would have taken from a transaction as presented, what disclosure and sales practice the industry treated as acceptable at the time, and whether the conduct at issue departed from it. Whether that amounts to a violation remains for the court.
No. Statutory interpretation and whether conduct meets a particular legal standard are for the court and counsel. This practice supplies the commercial and industry facts those arguments rest on, including presentation analysis and practice baselines.
Through analysis of how the offer was constructed and presented, evidence of what customers actually did at each step, complaint and support records showing where confusion arose, and comparison against category convention. Surveys are one form of evidence rather than the only one.
Marketing and packaging as published, interface and checkout flows at the relevant dates, terms and disclosure documents by version, sales scripts and representative training, complaint and support records, and transaction data showing what customers were actually charged.
Yes. Consulting-only engagements cover case assessment, reconstruction of offer and marketing history, review of disclosure evidence, deposition question preparation and critique of an opposing expert's methodology.
Initial conversations about scope, timing and conflicts are without charge. Helpful detail includes the product or offer at issue, the customer population and the period involved, plus any expert disclosure deadline already set.
A conflicts check is run before any substantive discussion. An initial note listing the party names and a one-line description of the dispute is enough to start; please hold privileged or confidential material until the check clears.