About

Mondelēz is (after Nestlé and PepsiCo) the world’s third biggest food producer with 110,000 employees all over the world, clients in over 155 countries and a $35bn turnover. A legal counsel working in the trade mark department of such a corporation faces a multitude of challenges, but of particular importance, above all else, is for senior counsel (trade marks) Jan Otto ‘never to be satisfied with a simple no’. He advocates an advisory approach that explores options and modifications which could reduce risk. His definition of the corporate counsel role is: ‘the in-house counsel has to become a business partner’. A rewarding challenge is the opportunity to work in a globally operating trade mark department that enables him to give advice in a multitude of countries and in the context of diverse cultural backgrounds. ‘Great communication skills and flexibility’ are always required. He says law firms have to internalise the client’s commercial environment, overall firms are ‘too conservative in their risk assessment and neglect exploring options of risk reduction’. Otto asks for ‘more creativity and a more commercial approach’.