What are the most significant cases or transactions that your legal team has recently been involved in?

In my role, I am responsible for legal matters related to Visa’s business operations in Central Europe. This region composes the markets of Germany, Austria, Switzerland and The Netherlands, obviously quite diverse countries. The legal advice in my team is driven by the business demands in those markets, which is to bring Visa’s vision to each of the Central Europe markets to uplift everyone, everywhere. As German consumers move increasingly towards using cards and contactless methods of payments like smartphones, in shops and online, accelerated by the pandemic, we advise on partnerships with banks, fintech and merchants, to enable cardholders a seamless payment experience. Examples of what we have advised on in this regard include our Visa debit card into Germany, but also sustainability topics such as wooden cards, or new car payment solutions, so that products and services can be paid for directly via the car by fingerprint, because just like our smartphone today, the car will likely also be linked to a Visa card in the future.

How do you feel the pandemic has changed the world of work for in-house counsel and the function of the general counsel?

I am convinced that we, as legal counsel, must be very closely connected to the business and get deep insights from them in order to be a good partner. We ought to be aware and understand what the business needs are. I think random conversations like those at the coffee machine are extremely important, because even with a question like “how are you doing?”, we often get onto other topics such as the business needs which we might need to consider in our overall advice. Due to the pandemic, work has largely shifted to remote, so this random exchange has become scarce. It is, therefore, important to be more proactive to get those insights. At the same time, many in-house counsels appreciate the valuable time working remotely to easier focus on complex analysis and solutions to give the best legal advice to protect the company. I consider the mix of working in the office, and remotely, to be an excellent way for our team to be proactive and efficient partners who protect our company. Besides that, the pandemic has thrown up new and unexpected issues for in-house counsel, in areas such as employment law or health and safety.