Event information
The Legal 500 is proud to officially announce the 2025 edition of the GC Summit: Germany, taking place on March 20th in the lovely city of Frankfurt.
This event brings together top in-house counsel from Germany’s most influential companies, alongside leading legal practitioners, for a day of insightful panel discussions, expert presentations, and invaluable networking opportunities.
The Legal 500 GC Summit: Germany will offer practical, forward-looking insights into the evolving role of in-house counsel, as well as the key challenges and opportunities facing legal departments in 2025 and beyond.
In collaboration with our key partners, the event will feature a series of dynamic sessions on cutting-edge topics, including AI, labour law, M&A, dispute resolution and much more.
Drawing from the wealth of experience of our speakers, this event will provide actionable, real-world advice for in-house counsel. Whether you are looking to enhance your professional growth or stay ahead of the curve, the GC Summit: Germany is an essential event for any in-house lawyer in the country.
Agenda
12.00pm Registration
12.30pm-12.45pm Opening remarks
- Isabel Caine, event content editor, Legal 500
- Vanessa Westphal, head of group legal, Merck
12.45pm-1.35pm Labour Law in times of economic crisis
During times of economic crisis, labour law plays a crucial role in balancing the interests of employees and employers while addressing the challenges posed by the economic environment. Key aspects to consider are always aligning of employer and employee representatives throughout the process and especially in tough negotiations. While employers usually have to adhere to a tight timeline in addition to meeting all formal criteria, the expectations of employees must be managed. The panel discusses all aspects of restructuring needs, creative instruments as well as negotiations within a conciliation board.
- Dr. Kathrin Bürger, partner, Seitz
- Dr. Stephan Pötters, partner, Seitz
- Prof. Dr. Marlene Schmidt, partner, Apitzsch Schmidt Klebe Rechtsanwälte
- Ralph Wangemann, managing director human resources and labour director, Opel Automobile
- Dr. Tom Gellrich, partner & managing director, AlixPartners
- Olaf Möllenkamp, chairman, Conciliation boards
1.35pm-2.25pm ESG and AI as Dealbreaker or Dealmaker in Joint Ventures
Examine how Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) factors and Artificial Intelligence (AI) can influence joint ventures. This session discusses whether these elements act as dealbreakers or dealmakers, highlighting their impact on the success and sustainability of joint ventures, with insights from legal professionals at Ashurst.
- Dr. Alexander Duisberg, partner, Ashurst
- Marina Arntzen, partner, Ashurst
- Dr. Stephan Hennrich, partner, Ashurst
- Maler James, head of centre of competence for strategic business units and finance at compliance, Volkswagen
- Philip Nicolai, general counsel commercial & technology, Schaeffler Group
- Thilo M. Tern, managing partner, Silvester Group
2.25pm-3.00pm Coffee Break
3.00pm-3.40pm How to deal with the dynamics and uncertainties of a challenging M&A market
In an era of geopolitical shifts, economic volatility, and heightened regulatory scrutiny, navigating M&A transactions presents unique challenges. This panel brings together expert perspectives to explore how General Counsel and senior in-house lawyers can effectively manage risk and uncertainty in deals. Key topics include the impact of global developments on M&A activity, strategies for addressing increasing regulatory scrutiny (FDI, ESR, merger control), and the contrasting approaches to these issues from a corporate, legal, PE and M&A advisory perspective. Attendees will gain practical insights into mitigating legal risks and ensuring deal success in today’s complex and rapidly evolving landscape.
- Dr Christian Traichel, partner, Taylor Wessing
- Carsten Burger, managing director, DC Advisory
- Dr Marco Hartmann-Rüppel, partner, Taylor Wessing
- Alexander Deicke, general counsel, Körber
- Viktor Strauch, partner, Borromin
3.40pm-4.20pm International Dispute Resolution: To Litigate or to Arbitrate?
Choosing the right dispute resolution mechanism is a critical decision for in-house counsel navigating cross-border conflicts. This panel, moderated by two experienced law firm partners and featuring a senior corporate counsel, will explore the key factors influencing the choice between litigation and arbitration. Topics include enforceability, cost considerations, procedural flexibility, and the impact of geopolitical and regulatory developments on dispute strategy. Attendees will gain valuable insights into managing risk, drafting effective dispute resolution clauses, and ensuring favourable outcomes in complex international disputes.
- Horst Daniel, partner, Squire Patton Boggs
- Dr. Eveli Lume, partner & managing director, Squire Patton Boggs
- Nicole Boehler, director of legal operations Europe, Autoliv
4.20pm-4.25pm Closing remarks
- Isabel Caine, event content editor, Legal 500
4.25pm-6.00pm Drinks and canapes
Speakers
Dr. Kathrin Bürger, partner, Seitz
The main focus of Kathrin Bürger’s work is, on the one hand, assisting companies with changes in collective bargaining agreements (withdrawal/change of employer association) and collective bargaining negotiations as well as strike preparations. On the other hand, Dr. Bürger develops and designs flexible working time and remuneration models and thus supports companies in negotiations of company agreements as well as in the context of conciliation boards. She also advises on labor law issues in connection with restructuring.
Kathrin Bürger studied law and European law at the University of Würzburg and received her doctorate from the University of Jena with a dissertation on the possible applications of mediation in employment law. She obtained her master’s degree by studying in New York. Before joining Seitz, she was a partner at a major international law firm.
Dr. Stephan Pötters, partner, Seitz
Stephan Pötters advises companies in all industries on individual and collective employment law. One focus of his work is on large restructuring and transformation projects, in which he also negotiates collective agreements together with our clients. As co-head of our seitz.digital team, he also advises on data protection law and supports our clients in all legal issues concerning the digitalization of the working environment. Another focus of his work is compliance matters, including internal investigations.
Prof. Dr. Marlene Schmidt, partner, Apitzsch Schmidt Klebe Rechtsanwälte
Ralph Wangemann, managing director human resources and labour director, Opel Automobile
Ralph Wangemann has been the Managing Director of Human Resources and Labor Director at Opel Automobile GmbH since January 2019.
Wangemann studied law at Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg and started his career at Opel in 1998 as a personnel officer.
As part of Opel’s acquisition by PSA and the merger with FCA into Stellantis, he played a key role in shaping the transformation.
Dr. Tom Gellrich, partner & managing director, AlixPartners
Dr. Tom Gellrich is a transformation and restructuring leader with deep expertise in guiding clients through complex, large-scale transformations and performance improvement programs. Dr. Gellrich brings extensive experience in large-scale transformations, headquarter and overhead performance, with a particular emphasis on workforce optimization and complex negotiations across various industries, both nationally and internationally. He has also worked on various large national and international transactions. Before joining AlixPartners, Dr. Gellrich worked as a Senior Partner at Roland Berger, where he supported clients in the DACH region, Europe and the UAE. Before that, he was a Partner at goetzpartners and a Senior Vice President at Commerzbank.
Olaf Möllenkamp, chairman, Conciliation boards
Olaf Möllenkamp is a judge at the Labor Court and has been part of the Schleswig-Holstein judiciary since 2001, initially at the Lübeck Regional Court in criminal matters and, since 2004, at the Lübeck Labor Court. In addition to conducting training sessions on labor and works constitution law for executives and works councils, he regularly serves as a speaker at continuing education events for specialized labor law attorneys and teaches procedural law, labor disputes, and collective bargaining law in the corresponding course. He is a certified data protection officer and mediator, an arbitrator in collective bargaining disputes, and the chair of numerous workplace conciliation committees, particularly in the field of IT co-determination.
Dr Christian Traichel, partner, Taylor Wessing
Christian heads up the German, and co-leads the international Corporate/M&A group, of Taylor Wessing and focuses his practice on corporate transactions and corporate law. He supports clients as an experienced negotiator in complex national and cross-border M&A transactions, joint ventures and restructurings. His many years of experience are characterized by factual and goal-oriented negotiation and project management. He advises leading companies from Germany and abroad and has extensive experience in assisting clients from North America, Japan and France with transactions in Germany.
Carsten Burger, managing director, DC Advisory
Carsten Burger joined DC in 2006 and focuses on the Industrial Technology and Business Services sectors in German-speaking Europe. He has successfully completed more than 50 sell- and buy-side transactions, representing a roster of international corporations, private equity firms, families, and entrepreneurs.
He holds a degree in business administration from Zeppelin University (ISGM) and an MBA with distinction from Saïd Business School, University of Oxford. Prior to joining DC, he spent four years as strategy consultant with Deloitte Consulting and Contrium Consulting.
Dr Marco Hartmann-Rüppel, partner, Taylor Wessing
Marco Hartmann-Rüppel is head of the Competition, EU & Trade Practice Group at Taylor Wessing and a member of our European competition law team that operates from our Brussels office. He has more than 25 years of experience as a trusted advisor and problem solver in all areas of German and European antitrust law and is recognised in Who’s Who Legal as one of the Thought Leaders Germany.
Alexander Deicke, general counsel, Körber
Viktor Strauch, partner, Borromin
Viktor Strauch is Partner at Borromin, a mid-market private equity fund focused on succession cases in DACH and the BeNeLux. Viktor joined Borromin in 2016 and deals primarily with companies in the industrial tech and business services sectors. Before that, Viktor worked at KPMG in the Valuation and the Debt Advisory department.
Dr. Alexander Duisberg, partner, Ashurst
Alexander covers a broad range of tech and data related matters. He is specialised in digital transformation projects, IT and data-driven business models, transactional data protection, cyber security, AI, IoT and Industrie 4.0. In addition, he works on various government committees to help shape the legal framework of the future. His advisory services are driven by helping clients to develop and transform their businesses through the impact of technology on a national and multi-jurisdictional basis. Alexander’s advice covers a broad range of contentious and non-contentious matters in technology and data law, where he acts on behalf of mid-size to large corporate organisations, as well as tech suppliers, in particular in the automotive and mobility, health care, industrial and insurance sectors.
Maler James, head of centre of competence for strategic business units and finance at compliance, Volkswagen
Maler James has been the Head of Centre of Competence for Strategic Business Units and Finance at Compliance at Volkswagen AG since September 2023. Prior to joining the compliance department, she was the legal and compliance director at Volkswagen Malaysia Sdn Bhd for two years. She studied law at the National University of Singapore and started her career at Volkswagen in 2015 as a manager, specialising in M&A transactions and industrial partnerships.
During her time at Volkswagen, Maler has been involved in some of the largest transactions undertaken by the company. She was in-house legal lead on the collaboration between VW and Ford – the largest industrial alliance in the world. Recently, she was involved in the collaboration between Volkswagen and XPeng in China, as well as the alliance with Rivian in the USA.
Philip Nicolai, general counsel commercial & technology, Schaeffler Group
Philip Nicolai has been legal counsel at Schaeffler Group since 2013. Following a legal counsel role in the automotive business from 2013 to 2020, including internal secondments to Brazil and the USA, he managed the legal advisory work for Schaeffler’s Procurement (including production materials, SaaS/IT and engineering services). He also held the role of Lead Counsel Technology since 2021, in which he led the practice group focusing on technology, innovation and partnering. In 2024, he was promoted to his current role, General Counsel Commercial & Technology – E-Mobility, one of the key strategic areas of Schaeffler Group.
He studied law at the University of Passau.
Mark Adolphs, VP and head of legal global M&A, Fresenius Medical Care
Mark Adolphs has been working at Fresenius Medical Care in leading roles in the legal department for over ten years. Currently, he serves as the Head of Legal Global M&A, PMI & Ventures. He is an experienced project manager, having spent time working in the hospital and healthcare industry gaining skillsets in corporate law, M&A, corporate governance, and cross-border transactions.
Mark studied law at the Ruprecht-Karls-University Heidelberg and started his career in the Corporate/M&A practice at a leading international law firm.
Thilo M. Tern, managing partner, Silvester Group
Thilo Tern is Managing Partner at Silvester Group, a leading company for integrated stakeholder relations in Germany, and advises corporate clients in relation to sustainability and ESG, finance and investor relations, and communications and design. The Silvester Group is part of VERSO Group: Thilo is one of VERSO Group’s Executive Team Founding Members. VERSO provides an AI-aided sustainability software and platform, offering integrated ESG Reporting and Management, Climate, and Supply Chain Hubs. Together with his team in Hamburg, Munich, and Cologne, he has successfully set up and operationally implemented strategic sustainability work in ESG projects for more than 250 corporate clients of all sizes. Thilo studied at EBS Universität für Wirtschaft und Recht and obtained an MBA there. He started his career as a Business Consultant at Roland Berger and then progressed to the niche consulting, communications and technology servicers, setting up the ESG and sustainability management services segment with Silvester.
Vanessa Westphal, head of group legal, Merck
Dr. Vanessa Westphal, LL.M. has led the Group Legal Team at Merck since July 2022 and, together with her team, provides strategic counselling to executive management and supervisory boards, as well as delivering business-focused and pragmatic solutions to all central company functions. Prior to this, Vanessa held several global and local positions within Merck; including in Healthcare Legal providing advice across the whole life cycle of medicinal products, and managing the global Compliance and Data Privacy Management System as Head of Compliance and Data Privacy Center of Expertise. Vanessa started her career as associate in the Healthcare & Life Sciences Practice Group at Clifford Chance in Düsseldorf, comprehensively advising international pharma and MedTech companies.
Marina Arntzen, partner, Ashurst
Marina particularly advises national and international clients on M&A and private equity transactions. She has a strong record of advising on all types of domestic and cross-border corporate transactions and joint ventures, with particular expertise in ESG-related corporate law matters. She works for clients from a wide range of sectors, with a deep industry knowledge on the infrastructure, technology, industrial and automotive sectors. Marina studied law at the Heinrich-Heine-University in Düsseldorf, the European Law-School-Maastricht and the Universidad Jaén. She obtained a Master of Laws degree at the University of London.
Dr. Stephan Hennrich, partner, Ashurst
Stephan advises national and international corporate and private equity clients on M&A transactions, public takeovers, and complex contracts. He has extensive experience in public and private M&A, stock corporation matters, cross-border mergers and IPOs. He has a particular focus on the energy and telecommunications industries, as well as other regulated industries. Stephan studied law at Bucerius Law School in Hamburg and at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He obtained a doctorate in law (Dr. iur.) at Bucerius Law School for a thesis on the pledge of shares in cross-border securities transactions.
Horst Daniel, partner, Squire Patton Boggs
Horst Daniel is the managing partner of Squire Patton Boggs’ Frankfurt and Böblingen offices. He also serves as the firm’s vice global chair of the International Dispute Resolution Practice Group.
For more than 25 years, Horst has focused on high-profile national and international dispute resolution, regularly representing national and international companies or sovereigns at German and EU courts or in arbitration proceedings.
His particular expertise is in commercial and investment treaty arbitration, as well as in national and international litigation, with a particular focus on cartel damages, product liability, unfair competition and international distribution matters. He has further developed a specialised practice in temporary and permanent injunctions in cases of urgency.
Dr. Eveli Lume, partner & managing director, Squire Patton Boggs
Dr. Eveli Lume is a partner in the International Dispute Resolution Practice of Squire Patton Boggs. She is an international arbitration specialist with a practice exclusively focused on complex international disputes, including both investor-state and commercial arbitration. An Estonian national, educated and admitted to practice in Estonia and Germany and regularly working in English, German, Estonian and Russian, her practice is uniquely international.
Eveli also acts as an arbitrator and, in December 2023, the Republic of Estonia appointed Eveli to the ICSID Panel of Arbitrators. In addition to her practice, Eveli is a lecturer at the International Dispute Resolution LL.M. programme of the Humboldt University and at the Tartu University in Estonia.
Nicole Boehler, director of legal operations Europe, Autoliv
Nicole Boehler is the Director of Legal Operations Europe at Autoliv. In this role Nicole is responsible for optimizing the delivery of legal services within the European organization and focuses on operational processes, risk management, and strategic initiatives. She regularly collaborates with cross-functional teams to develop and implement legal strategies that align with the company’s business objectives.
Autoliv is the worldwide leader in automotive safety systems. Autoliv develops, manufactures and market protective systems, such as airbags, seatbelts, steering wheels and pedestrian protection systems for all major automotive manufacturers in the world. The products save 35,000 lives and prevent 450,000 injuries each year.
Before joining Autoliv in 2024 she was a partner at an international law firm specializing in dispute resolution with a deep knowledge and experience in both litigation and arbitration. As a US litigator based in Germany, she regularly bridged the divide between the expectations of her global clients and the realities of the US legal system. Nicole also helped clients avoid litigation by setting up and managing international litigation coordination programs so as to minimize regulatory and safety-related liability risks, both civil and criminal.
In association with...
Seitz is a leading German corporate law firms and is one of the market leaders in employment and labour law in Germany. At its four offices in Cologne, Munich, Frankfurt am Main and Düsseldorf, Seitz advises large and medium-sized with around 140 lawyers in the areas of employment law, corporate law , data protection, compliance and tax. From the start, entrepreneurial thinking has been the foundation of our collaborative approach at Seitz. This applies to our results-driven legal support for our clients, as well as to the teamwork within the firm.
A particular strength of Seitz is our experience in legally complex and politically sensitive large-scale projects, in particular restructuring projects. We support our clients with customized strategies and their implementation.
EQWAL offers legal departments the opportunity to cover their legal needs efficiently and cost-effectively without making long-term commitments. The flexible integration of experienced lawyers allows legal departments to concentrate better on their core tasks and optimally support the company as a business partner.