The steelman argument for this type of instruction is that employees routinely make legal pronouncements that they are not competent to make.
Imagine a scenario where a PM or engineer writes down in a memo something like "Option #1 is a breach of antitrust regulations" or "This violates EU privacy regulations". These are often well meaning statements but the reality is most (all?) of the time these people have no idea what they are talking about (which EU privacy regulation? what are the elements of the antitrust law and how does the action implicate each one? etc).
However, a statement like this is highly prejudicial to a court as it indicates fore-knowledge of wrongdoing especially if it is made by someone fairly senior in the organization (eg middle management and higher).
The better option is to pose the assertion as a question directed to your lawyer. This has the benefit of (a) attorney client privilege so the document cannot be discovered in court and, more importantly, (b) getting someone who has the relevant expertise to weigh in on whether what you think is in fact true so you can base your decision making on facts and not random persons opinion of the law.
NB: Imagine your legal team weighing in on whether you should design your architecture as a microservice or monolith. That is the equivalent level of hubris for a non-legal person weighing in on the legal implications of particular courses of action.
Imagine a scenario where a PM or engineer writes down in a memo something like "Option #1 is a breach of antitrust regulations" or "This violates EU privacy regulations". These are often well meaning statements but the reality is most (all?) of the time these people have no idea what they are talking about (which EU privacy regulation? what are the elements of the antitrust law and how does the action implicate each one? etc).
However, a statement like this is highly prejudicial to a court as it indicates fore-knowledge of wrongdoing especially if it is made by someone fairly senior in the organization (eg middle management and higher).
The better option is to pose the assertion as a question directed to your lawyer. This has the benefit of (a) attorney client privilege so the document cannot be discovered in court and, more importantly, (b) getting someone who has the relevant expertise to weigh in on whether what you think is in fact true so you can base your decision making on facts and not random persons opinion of the law.
NB: Imagine your legal team weighing in on whether you should design your architecture as a microservice or monolith. That is the equivalent level of hubris for a non-legal person weighing in on the legal implications of particular courses of action.