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The 210-strong thyssenkrupp legal function has been a powerful force for innovation within the company, as group general counsel Arne Wittig explains: ‘During the past two years, thyssenkrupp’s legal department (LEX) has been a strong driver for change, enabling thyssenkrupp to set the course for the future. Most recently, the signing of the joint venture between thyssenkrupp Steel Europe and Tata Steel Europe has set the course driving the transition from a steel group to a diversified industrial group. In June 2018, Tata Steel and thyssenkrupp signed the agreement to combine their European steel operations in a joint venture’. Another important transaction for the legal M&A team was the sale of the Brazilian steel mill CSA Siderúrgica do Atlântico to the Latin American steelmaker Ternium, completed in September last year. It has also been heavily involved in improving corporate governance structures within the Group via a harmonisation and optimisation process. ‘Furthermore’, Wittig adds, ‘the legal team has also shaped its own strategy and operations. In a comprehensive approach based on two pillars, an extensive LEX-internal change project (LEX 2020) and the establishment of a strategy and operations department with global responsibility, the legal department has been able to upgrade its own setup, processes and tools’. Among the particularly large and highly-qualified team is Dr Martin Schlag, Dr Martin Klein and Dr Hans-Jürgen Schlinkert whose recent work marks them out as being particularly noteworthy. Dr Schlag leads the company’s legal M&A team and so has been intensively involved in the most important strategic transactions. Whilst Dr Klein leads group wide project governance and is responsible for the aforementioned improvements in corporate governance and Dr Schlinkert is head of legal for components technology and the high-profile legal framework working group.