About

Head of legal for international telecoms equipment giant Huawei Jan Bredehöft leads a team of six lawyers in total with a broad array of responsibilities. Previously a partner and an M&A specialist with PICOT Rechtsanwaltsgesellschaft, Bredehöft moved to Huawei in mid-2011 and took on his current role in January 2015. He is charged with highly important, multi-jurisdictional responsibilities, as he explains: ‘Besides my role as head of legal for Germany I am also leading the competition law practice group within the West-EU legal department, whilst acting as the interface for all legal communication with the European Commission relating to competition law, such as RFIs and similar’. He has had a major part to play in expanding and developing Huawei’s legal team for Germany in response to the increasing scope of its responsibilities: ‘Since taking over my current role, I was able to build up the team from two lawyers including me to now six senior legal counsel. As a result of strategic hiring and the professional development of individual team members we are able to provide specialised legal support in all key areas relevant for Huawei Germany, alongside providing increasing support for compliance matters Europe-wide’. When selecting new members of the legal team, Bredehöft took into consideration a number of factors that he believes successful in-house lawyers should possess. ‘A top in-house counsel should have an excellent understanding of the respective industry, a good grasp of the company strategy, be able to translate complex legal matters into business language, and be able to execute effective team play’, says Bredehöft.