Team size: Five

Could you share an example of a time when you came up with an innovation that improved how your legal team works and did not come at a large expense?

We have implemented several measures and regularly improve them in order to ensure that our legal team works as efficiently as possible: direct and open communication with regular team meetings; encouraging feedback within the team as well as from other departments and stakeholders to identify areas for improvement and better understand the needs of the company; improving communication and collaboration between legal and other departments globally; implementing guidelines, standard processes and procedures for contract drafting and review, legal research, and other legal tasks; as well as regular trainings for all members of the legal team.

Apart from legal matters, has the team worked on other company initiatives?

Yes, our legal team is frequently engaged with other company initiatives besides core legal topics.

Since we are managing our company’s IP rights (especially trademarks and patents), we are regularly working together with our marketing and product development teams on various (strategic, commercial and also legal) topics.

In addition, compliance is one of our core competencies and we have implemented a group-wide compliance management system (including a whistleblowing system), and are involved in compliance risk monitoring and respective audits.

Finally, we are currently strongly engaged in sustainability topics, supply chain transparency projects as well as ESG-related matters.

Can you sum up the team culture/ethos in one sentence? 

We summarise our legal team’s culture and ethos in three words that represent our core values: enthusiasm, efficiency and expertise (our “3Es”).

Enthusiasm: We see ourselves as internal service providers with a lot of energy and commitment. We are passionate about the interests of the company and are not afraid to take on responsibility. In doing so, we live a practice-oriented and holistic approach that often goes beyond actual legal advice.

Efficiency: Our primary goal is to identify opportunities and provide solutions, instead of making projects impossible due to legal restrictions. We always endeavour to get to the heart of the matter and provide clear legal assessments and recommendations in plain language (“keep it simple”). All this is done within short reaction times, so as not to disregard the operational business.

Expertise: Of course, all our lawyers have a sound legal education, which is complemented by relevant professional experience, knowledge of the company as well as the industry and ongoing further training.

These three core principles, as well as our team spirit, are essential to the success of our department. That is why we have recently received the “Promoting the Best” award for the Best Legal Department in Austria, which we are of course very pleased and honoured about.