About

Now general counsel, Judith Eckl has immense experience of the legal function for global brand and iconic fashion company Hugo Boss, having been employed with them since 2000. Eckl mentions three particular highlights from her time with Hugo Boss. ‘Firstly’, she says, ‘getting the chance early to take responsibility and work closely with the business in order to drive it forward alongside limiting legal risks. Secondly, working with many inspiring CEOs with different characters and different ways of driving the business that I have learned from. Finally, having interesting and challenging cases over the years, which has given me the experience to improve my legal knowledge’. Eckl has managed to push forward a major increase in the legal team’s coordination with the rest of the business, to the point that there is now a high degree of sophistication between legal and other business units: ‘A major project for the legal team over the course of my tenure was to work closely with the business and understand their needs thoroughly when undertaking work, so that we could get across an understanding of why the legal department is necessary and how other teams can be successful with a legal review in advance’. Overall, Eckl believes that ‘working as team with the business is the key to success’.