Deputy General Counsel / Head of Compliance Office | Constantia Flexibles Group
Mag. Claudia Rucekeli
Deputy General Counsel / Head of Compliance Office | Constantia Flexibles Group
Team size: Compliance Team 3 / Entire Legal Team 9
What are the most significant cases, projects, or transactions that you and your legal team have recently been involved in?
Over the past few years, the legal and compliance team has been involved in a broad range of complex and high-impact matters, reflecting both the strategic priorities of the business and an increasingly demanding regulatory environment.
M&A Transactions and Strategic Investments
The legal and compliance team has played a central role in advising on several acquisitions, divestments and strategic investments, with a strong emphasis on compliance risk. Our involvement has spanned the full transaction lifecycle, including:
structuring and execution support;
legal and compliance due diligence;
deal documentation and risk allocation; and
post-merger integration (PMI) planning from a compliance and governance perspective.
Post‑Merger Integration and Remediation
Following closing, my team supported post‑merger integration efforts, with particular focus on:
integration of legal and compliance frameworks and sanctions controls
remediation of identified legacy issues, and
engagement with senior management on governance and accountability structures
alignment of policies and training,
Enhancement of Contract Management Function
To ensure shorter contract cycle times and to enhance compliance and mitigate exposure to disputes with business partners.
Culture, Training, and Capability Building
In addition to advisory and risk work, we invested significantly in compliance culture and capability building, including targeted training for senior leaders and key risk functions, and refinement of accountability frameworks.
Investigations and Sensitive Advisory Work
We were involved in overseeing and advising on a number of internal investigations and sensitive compliance matters. This work required careful privilege management, proportional remediation planning, and senior‑level reporting.
Strategic Compliance Transformation Initiatives
We led and supported several enterprise‑wide compliance enhancement projects, including the further maturation of our compliance management system, risk assessment methodologies, and controls testing framework. This included alignment with evolving EU regulatory expectations and internal governance standards.
Governance, Policy, and Risk Advisory
The team played a central role in advising senior management and the board on governance topics, regulatory risk, and compliance implications of strategic decisions. This included updates to key policies, escalation frameworks, and decision‑making processes to reflect regulatory and business developments.
Cross‑Border and Cross‑Functional Projects
We supported several cross‑border initiatives involving legal risk analysis across multiple jurisdictions, working closely with external counsel where required. These projects often sat at the intersection of legal, compliance, data protection, and broader regulatory obligations.
Culture, Training, and Capability Building
In addition to advisory and risk work, we invested significantly in compliance culture and capability building, including targeted training for senior leaders and key risk functions, and refinement of accountability frameworks.
Overall, the past year has been characterised by a mix of strategic, advisory, and risk‑focused work, with a strong emphasis on prevention and embedding compliance as an enabler of sustainable business decision‑making.
How do you approach managing legal aspects during periods of instability or crisis to ensure the organisation’s resilience?
In times of instability or crisis, I focus on clear governance, rapid risk prioritisation, and close collaboration with leadership. My aim is to embed legal advice directly into decision‑making so the business can act quickly while remaining compliant and protected. I prioritise transparent communication with key stakeholders and regulators, and once the situation stabilises, I ensure lessons learned are translated into stronger frameworks to improve future resilience.
General counsel often speak of the need to be strategic to reach the pinnacle of the profession. What does being strategic mean to you?
Being strategic, to me, means consistently elevating the legal function from a reactive service to a proactive business partner. It is about understanding not only the law, but also the commercial, operational, and human realities of the organization—and using that understanding to help shape outcomes rather than simply assess risk after the fact.
We are currently living through a time of geopolitical change, and the world order that we have come to take for granted for many years is being rewritten. Does this affect your company’s risk profile and, if so, what are you doing to mitigate this?
Yes, geopolitical change has a clear impact on our risk profile. Shifts in global power dynamics, sanctions regimes, trade restrictions, and regulatory divergence increase legal, compliance, and operational complexity for international businesses.
To mitigate this, we continuously reassess our risk exposure across jurisdictions, with particular focus on sanctions, export controls, supply‑chain dependencies, and regulatory alignment. We work closely with the business to build flexibility into contracts, governance structures, and operating models, so we can adapt quickly as conditions change.
What do you think are the most important attributes for a modern in-house counsel to possess?
Commercial and strategic acumen are essential:
A modern in‑house counsel must combine legal excellence with strong business, leadership, and human judgment skills. Technical expertise remains foundational, but it is no longer sufficient on its own