About

IT services goliath Fujitsu maintains a significant presence around the globe, and Germany is no exception. General counsel, vice president legal and commercial for Central Europe Martina Seidl has around 40 individuals report into her and is highly respected throughout the organisation, having been employed with Fujitsu group companies since 2001; she has succeeded at every turn in doing so. For Seidl, the most important quality a top in-house counsel must have is ‘the ability to explain complex legal matters in a simple, short and concise way that makes it easy for internal clients to understand, decide and act. The second most important’, in her view, ‘is the ability to understand the internal client’s need and to advise with a solution-oriented mind-set; this requires business acumen, being close to the business and – though this is often underestimated – empathy’. Unsurprisingly for a senior general counsel with multi-national responsibilities at such a prominent company, Seidl has concluded a plethora of impressive projects and deals. ‘I managed a major IP litigation in Germany, including German Supreme Court, Constitutional Court and European Court of Justice proceedings’, she explains, ‘which was a model litigation for the German PC industry with a dispute amount of several hundred million euros. In 2016 we achieved a successful out of court settlement, after 15 years of litigation, and working on this I developed strong copyright law and litigation expertise as well as skills for long-term relationship building both with external advisors, industry associations and – most importantly, but also most difficult – with the legal departments of some competitor companies who participated in the litigation or were affected by it. As well as this’, Seidl continues, ‘I managed 2 major international M&A transactions: the acquisition of an IT Services group of companies with around 4,500 employees and €2bn revenue, post-closing integration and subsequent mergers; and he Fujitsu Siemens joint venture, a 50/50 joint venture of Fujitsu and Siemens, including its termination and Fujitsu’s acquisition of all 50% JV-shares from Siemens AG’.