Team size: Five

First, can you please give us an idea of the sort of work your team has done recently)?

In addition to a colorful daily operation business our legal and compliance team is working on a local and global scale on various transactions (closed and in preparation), international compliance trainings, conducting international compliance audits, boosting digitalization efforts, supporting to establish harmonized standards, and counseling and guiding through the current complex pandemic, growing economic inflation and US, UK and EU sanctions regimes and related impacts.

If you had to give advice to an aspiring in-house lawyer or general counsel, what would it be and why?

Get in touch with as many colleagues as you can. Visit all the sites of group companies. Use the phone – email is not an appropriate communication vehicle. Be honest, when you do not understand the facts or the service recipient needs. Failure is a part of personal development and learning. And, yes, you can neither understand complex companies within the first months nor can you solve all legal problems or have all the knowledge at hand in the moment you are asked for it. Ask for help from your colleagues and your department head. Ask for additional training if you deem it necessary. Say things direct and do not park them emotionally for months – most people do not want to hurt or humiliate someone, but in many cases there is a simple misunderstanding, a lack of closed loop communication or a false perception.

How do you suggest in-house lawyers build strong relationships with business partners?

Not to contact business partners only when you need something. Stay in touch even when no burning issue needs to be resolved asap. Furthermore, concentrate on having personal meetings again to not only see the picture of a person on a screen but to really see the people and hear their real voices. Support business partners, when they need support, and show them trust and respect. Be transparent as to why things go in this or that direction, or why they are currently put on hold.