Team size: 20

How do you approach managing legal aspects during periods of instability or crises, and how does your legal strategy align with the broader business strategy to ensure the organisation’s resilience?

There should not be a difference in managing the individual legal aspects during periods of economic expansion or contraction, since, as in all business organisations, a legal department should always be run in the most effective and value creative manner. But the topics an organisation is facing are probably changing, and the legal department has to react to them. In addition, with an eye to M&A, such periods may change the equilibrium in certain transactions from seller to buyer friendly and vice versa. This may result in changes of negotiation power, of which an inhouse lawyer should be aware

How have you integrated technology into your legal processes, and what impact has this had on efficiency and compliance?

We have IT solutions for the corporate housekeeping and document management of holding and portfolio companies in place.

What do you see as the major legal challenges for businesses in Germany over the next five years, and how are you preparing to address them?

Coping with regulatory M&A inhibitors, in particular sanctions law, foreign subsidies regulation and foreign investment control law. Inhouse lawyers should identify and use their leverage to find ways to assist the lawmakers in reducing red tape, and increase the economy’s efficiency.