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

We support our colleagues in different departments in implementing legal requirements and provide advice on legal issues and group projects. In recent years, the regular monitoring of legal developments at the EU level has become increasingly important, even before laws come into force.

Laws such as NIS II, the Deforestation Regulation, and the Supply Chain Regulation require cross-divisional projects in advance in a company like ours. Without such preparation, we cannot meet the legal requirements within the planned implementation deadlines. This also means that appropriate personnel resources – not only in my team – must be built up to ensure that the legally required monitoring and reporting obligations can be met in the future. The accumulation of such far-reaching legislation poses an additional challenge.

In addition, we provided legal support for an increasing number of cooperation and cross-border projects while simultaneously updating our trademark rights. The investigation into the Austrian food sector by the Federal Competition Authority also required significant additional effort from us.

How does your legal strategy change during periods of instability or uncertainty? 

As mentioned previously, we have strengthened regular coordination meetings and established a clear distribution of tasks with distinct responsibilities.

Do you make use of any ‘legal tech’ products, and if so, for which areas of your job do you find it most useful? 

We work with several legal databases and digital libraries, as well as with a digital file and contract management program, both of which are essential. However, we do not use any other legal tech products.