About

Florian Harms’ move from law firm Gide Loyrette Nouel into Emerson’s European legal department in 2012 was at the same time a move from a very European outlook into a global environment ‘marked by an American way of thinking’. Harms’ tasks are very varied as he works on three of the company’s businesses: Climate Technologies, Industrial Automation and Commercial & Residential Solutions, while also covering work for the Process Management division. In practice this means that he is in charge of 28 subsidiaries in 30 locations, which reported a turnover of $1bn in 2013. A particular challenge is therefore apart from ongoing work being able to ‘proactively cover strategic projects, particularly in the area of corporate compliance’. For Harms, a key factor for success as an in-house counsel is the ability, ‘to identify the right firm with the right expertise and fee structure for novel work’, however, he is able to rely on a wide network of contacts to minimise the ‘risk of unforeseen high legal fees’.