A privacy professional's role in merger and acquisition (M&A) due diligence is operational, strategic, and distinct from the legal department's function. While legal counsel assesses legal obligations and liabilities, the privacy professional is responsible for evaluating the target company's privacy program maturity, data inventories, operational practices, and technical controls. Abdicating this comprehensive assessment to the legal department would neglect critical operational, technical, and reputational privacy risks that fall outside a purely legal analysis. Effective due diligence requires a cross-functional team, where the privacy professional plays a key, non-delegable role in the overall risk assessment.

A. Discussing the type and scope of data processing is a fundamental due diligence activity required to understand the data assets and associated risks being acquired.
C. Planning for post-acquisition impacts on data processing is a crucial and proactive component of due diligence, ensuring a compliant and smooth integration.
D. Benchmarking the privacy policies of both companies is a standard and necessary practice to identify gaps and plan for policy harmonization post-acquisition.

1. Densmore, R. (2021). Privacy Program Management: Tools for Managing Privacy Within Your Organization (3rd ed.). IAPP (International Association of Privacy Professionals). In Chapter 6, "The Privacy Operational Life Cycle: Sustain," the section on "Mergers, Acquisitions and Divestitures" (Section 6.3.3) outlines the comprehensive due diligence activities expected of a privacy office. These include reviewing data inventories, notices, policies, and data transfer mechanisms, demonstrating a role that is distinct from and cannot be fully delegated to legal. The text emphasizes the privacy team's responsibility in assessing the target's program, which is a collaborative, not a delegated, function.

2. Goldberg, D., & GINITIALS, L. (2019). Privacy, Due Diligence, and Corporate Acquisitions. The Business Lawyer, 74(2), 431-460. This academic article details the multifaceted nature of privacy due diligence, stating, "A comprehensive privacy and data security due diligence review requires a multidisciplinary team of experts, including legal, information technology, and business personnel" (p. 434). This supports the principle that relying solely on legal is insufficient and should be avoided.

3. Stanford Law School. (2020). M&A Due Diligence in a Data-Driven World. Courseware materials often emphasize that privacy due diligence extends beyond legal compliance to include operational and technical assessments, which are the primary domain of privacy and security professionals, not just corporate lawyers. The process involves evaluating the target's entire privacy management program.