Team size: Over ten

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?

In times of instability or crisis, I approach legal management with a dual lens: naturally, one focused on the company, and the other on the Legal and Compliance team itself. Our company, Burckhardt Compression, has a 180-year history of navigating complex and volatile environments. That legacy demands a legal strategy that is both principled and adaptable.

We operate across diverse and often contradictory regulatory landscapes – Switzerland, the EU, China, India, North America, and the Middle East – where legal certainty is not always a given. The Board and Executive Management respond with a range of strategic levers: a flexible workforce, targeted R&D investment, adoption of AI, rigorous capex scrutiny, and incentive structures that reward resilience and initiative. Legal & Compliance must reflect and support these levers.

Internally, this begins with recruiting colleagues who not only meet quality and ethical standards but also understand the company’s strategic posture and market realities. Lawyers are trained to seek clarity, routine, and risk mitigation – values that remain essential. However, I encourage the team to go further: to understand the business drivers, the motivations of other corporate functions, and the broader context in which decisions are made. This mindset fosters legal strategies that are not only compliant but also commercially viable and responsive to change.

During crises, we focus on maintaining operational continuity, protecting reputational integrity, and enabling informed decision-making under pressure. We avoid rigid interpretations and instead offer structured options that allow the business to move forward with confidence. This requires close alignment with leadership, clear communication, and a shared understanding of priorities.

Ultimately, resilience is not just about weathering disruption – it is about emerging stronger. Legal and Compliance contributes to this by being a source of clarity, pragmatism, and trust. Our role is not to slow down change, but to help shape it responsibly.

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

One of the major legal challenges for businesses in Switzerland over the next five years will be navigating the evolving geopolitical and regulatory landscape, particularly as Switzerland continues to operate outside the EU while maintaining close economic and legal ties with it. The country’s alignment with jurisdictions like the US, India but also China adds complexity, especially as these partners increasingly diverge in their regulatory approaches and political priorities.

Switzerland has historically managed such shifts with agility, especially post-WWII, by positioning itself as a stable, neutral, and reliable jurisdiction. However, the current environment demands even more nuanced legislative and regulatory responses. The Swiss legislator will need to strike a careful balance: avoiding overburdening companies with fragmented or contradictory regulations, while reinforcing Switzerland’s reputation as a safe and predictable legal environment for foreign investment and cross-border dispute resolution.

From a General Counsel’s perspective, this means proactively monitoring regulatory developments not only in Switzerland but also in key partner jurisdictions. It also involves scenario planning for potential regulatory misalignments, strengthening internal compliance frameworks, and ensuring that the business remains agile enough to adapt to new legal risks – whether they arise from data governance, ESG mandates, trade/sanctions restrictions, or evolving dispute resolution mechanisms.

Ultimately, our role is to help the business navigate uncertainty with confidence, ensuring that legal strategy supports long-term resilience and growth.