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Since 2012, Allianz, the world’s largest insurance company, have handled all employment law matters exclusively in-house, ‘unless a dispute is subject to appeal’ explains Schönwerth. The division of duties between the legal department and her area (Legal and Works Council EU) is strict – while the legal department covers all areas except employment law, Schönwerth is in charge of employment matters globally. A particular highlight has been the implementation of the European employee participation at the company. ‘This has been entirely new ground for us as we were among the first companies to carry out an SE transformation and in this context to establish a European works council’. In his day to day job, the ever increasing ‘legal and regulatory requirements both domestically and internationally’ pose challenges. However, this requires to tackle novel situations and ‘to find appropriate solutions without relying on existing knowledge is exciting’.