Agenda

12.00pm-12.45pm Registration and lunch 

12.45pm-12.50pm Opening remarks

    • Carmen Godoy Martín, events content editor, Legal 500

12.50pm-1.05pm Opening keynote

Timo will open the GC Summit Germany 2026 with a keynote setting the direction for the day. Drawing on his work, The Importance of Human Leadership with Integrity in a Highly Regulated and Tech-Reliant Corporate Environment, he will explore how legal leaders are navigating increasing regulatory complexity, embedding responsible AI, and redefining the role of the General Counsel as a strategic partner to the business.

His remarks will focus on the practical choices facing legal teams today, and how innovation, governance and leadership need to come together in shaping the future of the function.

    • Timo Matthias Spitzer, executive director & head of legal, Banco Santander

1.05pm-1.55pm Building responsible AI in legal practice, in association with Legalfly

Artificial intelligence is already reshaping the role of the general counsel not in theory, but in daily operational decisions. As EU AI Act obligations begin to take effect and GDPR enforcement continuing to intensify, German and European legal teams are undergrowing pressure to move beyond experimentation and build defensible AI governance frameworks.

This panel brings together senior in-house leaders who are actively navigating the transition from pilot projects to enterprise deployment. How are legal teams classifying AI risk, setting internal guardrails, and managing cross-border compliance expectations while still delivering measurable efficiency gains?

Speakers will share practical lessons on vendor oversight, internal adoption resistance, board-level accountability and the evolving mandate of the GC as AI becomes embedded across business functions.

    • Timo Matthias Spitzer, executive director & head of legal, Banco Santander
    • Mirko Tegeler, group general counsel, head of legal and governance Germany and international, Kaufland
    • Vera Luetzelschwab, legal AI consultant, Legalfly

1.55pm-2.45pm Energy sourcing in times of global crises – challenges and opportunities for businesses, in association with FPS

Global crises such as the war in Ukraine and, more recently, the conflict in the Middle East are presenting companies with new challenges: energy procurement is becoming more complex, market prices are subject to significant fluctuations, and the issue of security of supply is coming sharply into focus for businesses. Companies’ procurement strategies must rise to meet these challenges.

Local self-supply, the procurement of energy via wholesale markets and/or bilateral supply agreements, as well as any conceivable hybrid models, must be legally sound in their structure and implementation. At the same time, companies must align their energy procurement with sustainability goals and regulatory requirements.

This creates a new and evolving scope of responsibilities – not only for procurement departments within companies, but also for general counsel and their legal teams.

The panelists will share practical experiences and discuss possible approaches to addressing the above aspects.

    • Leonard Szabó, associate partner, FPS
    • Katharina Imfeld, associate partner, FPS
    • Dr. Carmen Schneider, partner, FPS
    • Dr. Arne M. Weber, head of power, gas, emissions, MB Energy

2.45pm-3.00pm Coffee break

3.00pm-3.50pm Deal-Value-Protection in times of economic uncertainty, in association with POELLATH

Challenges to enterprise valuations become more common and more complex in times of economic uncertainty. This poses additional challenges in day-to-day business, structural integration measures in a group as well as in M&A transactions.

This panel brings together M&A and litigation expertise with the perspective of a renowned valuation expert and reviews how value protection can be achieved in times of economic uncertainty.

The panelists will in particular focus on best practices that legal teams and their advisors can implement, especially in contract drafting and management, to limit their company’s exposure to claims and potential litigation arising from changing valuations in volatile markets.

    • Dr. Eva Nase, partner, POELLATH
    • Michael Andreas Haase, counsel, POELLATH
    • Dr. Frederik Ruthardt, partner, RSM Ebner Stolz

3.50pm-4.15pm Managing IP in the AI era: risk, portfolio strategy and pricing realities, in association with Melchers

Intellectual Property is an evergreen topic for companies as both Opportunity as well as risk. This is multiplied by the fact that AI comes into play: Creation of IP may become easier, but at the same time, (careless/uncontrolled) use of AI bears risks of infringing IP. Besides this, budgets become more important so that the pricing of IP-related legal services is also of key importance for GCs.

The mini-panel will share some practical experiences in these fields and discuss, in particular, IP’s core role for ensuring company success, IP portfolio management and pricing, as well as AI’s involvement with IP-related legal services and its potential for prosecution, litigation and enforcement.

    • Dr. Sebastian Petrack, partner, Melchers
    • Paul Basse, senior associate, Melchers
    • Dirk von Diringshofen, associate director legal & head of global trademarks, Stada Group

4.15-4.30pm Coffee break

4.30pm-5.20pm ESG and competition law: sustainability cooperation under evolving enforcement and political realities, in association with Linklaters

This panel will explore one of the most difficult questions facing legal teams today: how to enable credible ESG collaboration without crossing competition law boundaries. Corporate sustainability strategies are increasingly built around cooperation: joint “green” initiatives, sector wide decarbonisation projects and information sharing on ESG standards. At the same time, the European Commission as well as national competition authorities in the European Union and globally are sharpening their focus on when sustainability agreements are compatible with antitrust rules, and when they may restrict competition.

This panel will explore how legal and compliance teams can enable credible ESG collaboration while managing competition law risk. Topics will include the latest enforcement practice and guidance on sustainability agreements, practical structuring of “green” cooperation initiatives, and how to document benefits and efficiencies in a way that can withstand regulatory scrutiny.

The discussion will also consider how geopolitics and the shifting political landscape are reshaping the ESG agenda. Defence and security interests are increasingly framed as part of “responsible” investment, while in some jurisdictions, the role of ESG is being deprioritised. Panellists will discuss what this means for cross border cooperation projects, divergent stakeholder expectations and the evolving role of the general counsel in steering ESG driven collaboration safely through competition law constraints.

    • Kaan Gürer, counsel, Linklaters
    • Sören Bezzegh, general counsel / group director legal, IP & compliance, Brita Group
    • Daniel van Geerenstein, head of legal, Jack Wolfskin

5.20pm-5.25pm Closing remarks

    • Carmen Godoy Martín, events content editor, Legal 500

5.25pm-6.30pm Drinks & canapes reception