About

Team lead for German legal and compliance for Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) Antonios Kotsis explains that the function has been emphasising flexible working methods of late, with team members empowered to work outside the office if need be. Nevertheless, an extremely strong and closely-knit team culture has been developed, as Kotsis explains: ‘What we concentrate on is sharing information with each other, so that we have a supportive atmosphere and very proactive method of dealing with challenges. If something is not progressing as they should, this is brought up straight away so that solutions can be found. We stay focused, are very open and loyal to each other and are mindful that our work is not about individuals but the company’. As well as taking an active role in legal training throughout the firm via its “legal ambassadors” programme aimed at outlining the benefits of a legal insight to business matters, Kotsis speaks to a number of major projects that the team has worked on, both internal and external, over the past two years: ‘On the compliance side, we established a compliance management system that has been externally audited and is now certified to the newest standard, which is unique in the real estate industry. We also set up a group called the legal and compliance initiative with other interested companies in our sector – including competitors – aimed at setting up common industry standards with regards to AML procedures’. On the legal side, he mentions that the team has overseen ‘four major acquisitions in different sectors from asset management to fit-out businesses to brokerage companies: three in Germany and one in Switzerland’. Kotsis is very keen to emphasise the role played by former legal and compliance lead Dr Ingo Seidner – now EMEA compliance and integrity management lead – in the formation and building of the team’s capabilities to its current extremely high level of competence.