About

Formerly an equity partner at Clifford Chance, where he was a part of the German management team and a member of the partner selection group, Rolf Giebeler moved from this highly successful period into in-house work with a move to international wholesaler Metro as head of legal affairs and compliance in 2005. There he was responsible for designing and implementing the then highly regarded compliance management system of Metro Group and member of the core team to redesign and implement modern governance structures within the group. Working here until 2010, he moved back into private practice work for a stretch until March 2015 when he received an offer from Rheinmetall, which he regarded as ‘a very interesting prospect due to the company’s mixture of defence and automotive business lines and the fact that Rheinmetall is very ambitious about its future’. He duly accepted the offer. As for what Dr Giebeler’s goals were when joining this MDAX-listed company, he mentions that ‘the most general description would be to move the legal department and the perception of it within the company into the 21st century. I aimed to do this by bringing it down a customer and service-oriented route and really getting the legal team close to the business, in order to make the business understand that we are able to provide constructive business solutions to challenges’. Dr Giebeler enjoys getting to understand the intricacies of his business, and points out how different this is to working as an external counsel: ‘Before I was an in-house lawyer I always thought that as external “trusted advisor” I was close to the action, but upon moving in-house I became aware that any outside lawyer only sees the part of the iceberg sticking out of the water in business terms. The in-house legal people are dealing with the significantly bigger, and in many areas much more complex, part of the business. Many exciting developments never get outside the company, and being a part of that as an in-house lawyer is highly rewarding’.