About

Assuming his position in December 2014, Sören Erdmann serves as director legal at Blacklane, a fast growing start-up which is now present in more than 60 countries in Asia, Middle East, Australia and North America, thanks in no small part to Erdmann’s contribution. Erdmann and his team are currently in the process of implementing legal tech solutions to digitise all contract related workflows in the company, gradually involving all departments and local subsidiaries worldwide. The project will make the legal department and all legal related workflows in the global group of companies leaner, faster, and more efficient. In addition, ‘I try to put my priority on the wellbeing of the group of human beings that I am part of, i.e. the legal team. By creating a culture of open and constructive feedback in all directions (360° regardless of hierarchical structures) and building true personal relationships, I try to create a space where it is safe to speak up, safe to challenge decisions or opinions, and safe to fail. By means of empowerment, ownership and encouraging mentorship, I try to lay the foundation and create the environment for high levels of people engagement’, he says. In the past few years, Erdmann has been involved in numerous funding rounds with VCs, investment funds, and strategic investors, including the largest funding round in the company’s history. According to Erdmann, ‘we need to embrace technology and get used to constant and rapid change of digital business models and how companies operate these days. The legal profession cannot afford to repose upon its partly antiquated modes of operation. In globally operating digital companies, legal counsel will be moving away from providing classic legal advice under a given jurisdiction (which one would that be?) and instead become interdisciplinary risk managers and solution architects’, he says.