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?

First and foremost, “keeping calm” is how to approach challenging situations. As General Counsel one is also part of the leadership team and well aware of the business needs and business strategy. Hence, I have a very pragmatic, sustainable and solution focused take on solutions.

What are the main cases or transactions that you have been involved in recently?

My focus is lately very much on automation, availability of accurate data and AI, which are crucial for a legal department in our decade. Without such, one will not be able to digitalise effectively and that will lead to a slowdown in performance and ultimately to not being competitive. In addition, I am very open to the use of AI to keep up the speed. This requires transmission of knowledge and awareness re. challenges of AI use specifically in legal matters.

What role does the legal department play in promoting and ensuring corporate social responsibility in your organisation?

Often ESG and CSR are seen as purely compliance obligations and therefore pushed to the legal department for solution. When working on CSR and ESG you will realise that all departments are involved, and it requires shareholder and management buy in to pursue any goals in that regard. My experience at Uberall is that with such buy-in, the legal department is capable of spearhead and CSR and ESG related project as project manager.

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?

Continuity and increase of bureaucracy for specifically small and midsize entities, for whom creating an addition FTE can be very cumbersome.

Secondly as a challenge in a positive way will be the use of AI in legal departments. I am dreaming of a company specific AI-tool, which is fed with all company related knowledge, best practice knowledge of the specific sector and with related vertical industries and is capable to support and lead innovation by recognising synergies between departments and historical best practices and vertical industries.