About

Automotive supplier Meritor has 18,000 employees in 103 locations in 24 countries, making for a broad range of tasks for Hans-Michael Stracke. The market is impressed with the ‘remarkable calmness and thoroughness with which he handles complex matters’, how ‘quickly he grasps highly complex structures and issues’ and that in spite of all the jurisdictions, he ‘never loses the overview’. Observers state that he comes ‘really close to the ideal of a general counsel’. Hans-Michael Stracke believes that the legal department has to ‘pro-actively look for work that adds value instead of waiting for it’ and he also advocates bespoke training that ‘allows for interaction and observation and which are therefore one of the most effective tools of monitoring’. He demands of his team ‘strict project management for all work that cannot be completed within one week’ and ‘transparency regarding response times and approach’. He also never ceases to emphasise the ‘successful use of mediation as way of conflict solving’. External advisors should ‘actively seek to learn more about the client’s business’.