Head of corporare office, vice president legal affairs | Uniper
Andrea Schoeneberg is vice president of corporate legal and head of corporate office at stock-listed Uniper. In her role, Andrea acts as a strategic advisor on legal questions to the...
Legal director, general counsel Europe North | Michelin Finanz Gesellschaft für Beteiligungen
Head of legal and compliance DACH, Nordics and CEE | Jones Lang LaSalle - JLL
Senior director legal affairs, compliance and data protection | Discover
Chief legal officer | Sitecore Deutschland
Bertil Majer is the chief legal officer and member of the executive team at Sitecore— a worldwide leader in experience management SaaS. Bertil is globally responsible for all legal affairs,...
General counsel | HORNBACH Baumarkt
Christian Seidel has acted since 2013 as general counsel. In 2021 he also assumed the role of chief compliance officer of the HORNBACH Group — a listed home improvement retailer...
General counsel and managing director | DDB Germany Group of Companies
Christian Unsinn has been the general counsel for the German DDB Group since 2010, and managing director for DDB Germany Group of Companies, the holding company of the DDB Group,...
General counsel, head of legal and chief compliance officer | Mainova
Executive vice president M&A, general counsel, chief compliance officer | Metro
General counsel and chief compliance officer | Cellforce Group
General counsel | Siemens Healtineers
Dagmar Maria Mundani is the general counsel of Siemens Healthineers, a DAX40 listed company. As general counsel, she heads the worldwide function legal, compliance, and ECC, within an organisation with...
Director legal and business affairs | Bundesliga International
Group general counsel | BMW Group
Dr. Andreas Liepe was appointed as the group general counsel of BMW in 2019 and is responsible for legal, patents and group compliance. Previously, he held various senior positions within...
General counsel and vice president group corporate legal | Ceconomy
Senior legal director - Benelux, DACH, IE, Nordics, UK and EU legal affairs | Google
CTS Country legal head Germany and Austria | Novartis Business Services
General counsel and member of the executive leadership team | Scout24
General counse eBay Germany, chairman of the supervisory board | eBay Marketplaces
Group general counsel, chief compliance officer | HUGO BOSS
Group general counsel and chief compliance officer | Securing Energy for Europe
Dr. Joerg Kammerer is group general counsel and chief compliance officer of Securing Energy for Europe (until June 2022 GAZPROM Germania). Securing Energy for Europe is one of the biggest...
Group general counsel - senior vice president legal and audit | HARIBO Holding
Vice president legal, quality and compliance | Novo Nordisk Pharma
Managing counsel | Volkswagen
Dr. Michael M. Klose serves as managing counsel at the legal group of Volkswagen, based in Wolfsburg. With over 15 years of legal experience in the area of banking and...
General Counsel, head of legal and group compliance, managing director | FMS Wertmanagement
Sabine is in the position of managing director for FMS Wertmanagement AÖR (FMS WM) in Munich. She covers the role of the general counsel, head of legal and group compliance....
Senior vice president corporate legal affairs | Uniper
After starting his career as an M&A Lawyer, Dr. Fehlemann joined E.ON before moving to Uniper when it split off from E.ON in January 2016. At Uniper, he built up...
General counsel and chief compliance officer | Progroup
General counsel Germany and EMEA, general counsel private bank and managing director | Deutsche Bank
General counsel - vice president legal and compliance | Sunfire
Dr. Valesca Molinari is general counsel — vice president of legal and compliance — at the hydrogen company Sunfire, a growth company on its way to becoming a major industrial...
Head of legal EMEA | Harsco Rail
Elizabeth Hincapié based on the strength of the nominations she received, has become an excellent leader and is regarded as a star in the competitive in-house legal world. She has...
General counsel an chief compliance officer | Reverse Logistics
General counsel, director legal and compliance | Leica Camera
Florian Schaefer joined Leica Camera in 2008 as the group’s first in-house counsel ever, today acting as general counsel of Leica Camera’s headquarters in Wetzlar, Germany, and its subsidiaries across...
Vice president global field legal, regional general counsel Middle and Eastern Europe - head of legal department | SAP
Executive vice president legal services and chief compliance officer | Deutsche Post and DHL
Gordon Weber is the executive vice president legal services and chief compliance officer at Deutsche Post DHL Group, the world’s leading logistics company. He can draw on a legal career...
General counsel, chief compliance officer, senior legal director, legal, compliance and governance | HSE
Legal director | Samsung SDI Europe
Hans-Michael Stracke has over 22 years of experience in the automotive industry and joined Samsung SDI in 2016, coming from Bird & Bird’s international automotive practice group. The trained business...
General legal counsel Europe | Hyundai Motor Europe
“To create innovation, you must have knowledge, skills and a lot of fun.” Award-winning, bicultural legal advisor with more than a decade of general counsel experience with proven track record...
General counsel Germany, chairman of the supervisory board | Sodexo
Deputy general counsel - Western Europe legal affairs | Huawei Technologies
Group general counsel | ZF Group
Jan started his career at Hengeler Mueller in 1999. He focused on M&A and corporate work, including numerous restructurings, such as of Deutsche Bank, RWE, Mannesmann, Marconi, and General Electric,...
Head of legal Germany and Austria | AmRestCoffee Deutschland
Head of legal | Native Instruments
For more than 25 years, Native Instruments has been among the innovation leaders in music tech, providing soft- and hardware products for music creators and DJs worldwide. Under the umbrella...
Head of legal – investment transactions Europe, Middle East, Africa and Switzerland | UBS Asset Management
General counsel and authorised signatory | Die Autobahn
Die Autobahn was founded in September 2018. It was established to place planning, operating, and maintaining of the German motorway network (including approximately 13.000km motorways, more than 28.000 bridges, and...
General Counsel and chief compliance officer, president legal, compliance and insurance | BASF
Head of legal continental Europe | PGIM Real Estate Germany
Matthias is head of legal Continental Europe with PGIM Real Estate. He and his team are overseeing the operations in PGIM Real Estate’s offices in Frankfurt, München, Luxembourg, Paris...
Director law of international trade and trade facilitation | Association of German Chambers of Commerce and Industry
Group general counsel, head of legal and compliance Germany and International | Kaufland
Mirko Tegeler is the group general counsel, head of legal and compliance for Germany and International at Kaufland. He is an acclaimed lawyer with an extensive career as an in-house...
Associate general counsel | McKinsey & Company
After nine years of experience in German and US law firms, Nina joined McKinsey on the doorstep of the first lockdown in March 2020. In the newly created position as...
General counsel and head of compliance | Hottinger Brüel & Kjaer
Vice president compliance - chief compliance officer | Veridos
Please note that Nuray has now moved on to a new role from the time the research took place.
Vice president legal and corporate compliance, general counsel | Vetter Pharma-Fertigung
Head of legal corporate and investment banking Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Nordic countries | Banco Santander
We are very excited to be back with this year’s edition after the imposed hiatus of the pandemic. Owing to the multitude of companies involved and the continual growing importance of the in-house legal role across Germany, The GC Powerlist: Germany 2023 is yet another climactic publication from The Legal 500 in-house legal research team.
Unquestionably, general counsel in Germany faced several challenges over the past few years. Interestingly, it was not only the Covid-19 disrupted operations which pushed lawyers to adopt new working ways and re-think their legal departments. Internal lawyers in Germany note that they had no time to catch their breath due to the introduction of the new German Supply Chain Act — the Lieferkettensorgfaltspflichtengesetz – which occupied most of their time. However, its introduction has certainly not stopped Germany-based internal lawyers, as they continue to provide ongoing support to their companies, carry out large transactions, and promote the implementation of innovation and digital tools, defending again their notoriety for superbness.
This list was put together through a combination of interviews with in-house counsel, insightful conversations, and thought pieces focusing on business topics dear to our Powerlisters. It also looks back on the careers of the featured lawyers through detailed biographies. This edition makes for a content-rich and diverse list representing the vivacity and outstanding legal and business knowledge of the German legal community that works every day to make a positive impact and drive their companies’ success.
A recurring topic discussed was sustainability, diversity, and inclusion. Legislation in Germany is reported to be changing to promote further transparency around these values. When asked whether the general counsel plays a leading role with regards to the implementation of such values, Sven Wehser, associate general counsel and legal director Germany at Amazon sustains: ‘As general counsel, we considerably influence our organisations’ diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. I choose to get involved actively.’ Wehser is echoed by Dr. Alexander Dähnert, assistant general counsel at Johnson Mattey: ‘As general counsel, I lead by example when it comes to implementing and living the diversity and inclusion policies. Legal has an essential role to play, and general counsel set the tone from the top.’
Leading this year’s Legal 500 GC Powerlist: Germany was an absolute honour. Thank you to everyone who reserved time to speak with me during this project and to share precious insights into your role. I am incredibly proud to introduce this list of Germany’s most acclaimed, agile, and outstanding in-house counsel. We are delighted to be able to highlight your achievements to a broad audience through this publication.
Sara Maggi | Lead Researcher – GC Powerlist Germany 2023
Congratulations to all General Counsel on the Legal 500 GC Powerlist. The Legal 500 GC Powerlist Germany is one of the most important lists to recognize and honor special talents and outstanding personalities of German in-house counsel.
We at ARNECKE SIBETH DABELSTEIN are proud to be a sponsor of the GC Powerlist 2023. We are pleased to support the GC Powerlist 2023 and to celebrate your success and award with the nominees. We look forward to continuing to work with our clients to help you grow their companies’ businesses and navigate you safely through increasingly challenging frameworks. Climate change, the Corona pandemic, supply chain difficulties, attacks on democracy, the war in Ukraine, and high energy costs all present enormous challenges to companies and their internal and external legal counsel. They and their companies have learned to work and live under these extreme conditions. Companies and their employees must drastically change and adapt to an ever-changing environment in order to stay on track, not only in their professional lives, but also in their personal lives and health.
As Powerlisters, you play a critical role in addressing these challenges, through highly skilled management of your company’s strategic direction, leadership of your people in these challenging times. We all agree that managing the aforementioned crises will be critical to our economy and our peaceful coexistence. Companies will also be increasingly scrutinized on how they serve society, and this will affect their future performance.
As legal advisors, we at ARNECKE SIBETH DABELSTEIN will work with you to provide our clients, board members and executives with the best possible strategic and practical legal advice.
About ARNECKE SIBETH DABELSTEIN
ARNECKE SIBETH DABELSTEIN is a German commercial law firm with more than 150 lawyers, notaries and tax advisors at six locations. We offer legal advice at all relevant business locations. We are one of the leading legal firms in Germany with offices in Frankfurt, Munich, Hamburg, Berlin, Leer and Dresden and are internationally recognized market leaders in the areas of Real Estate, Transportation, Aviation & Logistics and Maritime. In addition, we are continuously growing in the sectors of Energy, Insurance as well as Technology & Media and Sports Law.
Our legal practice areas include Labor & Employment, Insurance, Corporate/M&A, Banking & Finance, Intellectual Property, IT, Commercial, Public and Antitrust. We also have a tax law team and a notary’s office.
Due to our memberships in global legal networks (e.g. Interlaw, Meritas, Legal Netlink Alliance) as well as worldwide contacts to specialized law firms, we are also a reliable partner for international clients.
After an absence of 3 years, The Legal 500 returned to Frankfurt on the evening of Thursday 26th January to celebrate the launch of GC Powerlist Germany 2023.
This year’s edition – the 5th in the series – was the biggest ever, with over 130 of the very best general counsel, heads of legal and senior in-house lawyers that Germany has to offer recognised on this year’s list.
The launch event was held at the very impressive Ommia restaurant with over 100 guests in attendance enjoying a delightful evening of networking and celebration. Our thanks for your amazing feedback:
“Delighted to attend the reception in Frankfurt together with Cristina Reparaz Gravalos and Esteban Hagedorn from my amazing team and to network with distinguished peers from across industries.”Timo Matthias Spitzer, Executive Director & Head of Legal at Banco Santander
“I am honoured to be listed again in The Legal 500 GC Powerlist Germany! It was a great pleasure to meet all the GCs, The Legal 500 Team and Arnecke Sibeth Dabelstein at the launch event! Thank you!”Dr Alexander Daehnert, Assistant General Counsel at Johnson Matthey
“During covid, I must admit, I rather focused on webinars and home office, instead of meeting colleagues in real life. Yesterday´s GC Powerlist Germany 2023 event, though, was a great occasion to confirm with many in-house colleagues: how great and overdue! Finally, such events are possible again!”Ingo Koehler-Bartels, General Counsel at Sodexo
“It was a pleasure to share a great evening in Frankfurt and to meet many in-house legal colleagues. Congratulations to all colleagues and many thanks to Volkswagen AG and our external partners around the world for their highly appreciated support.”Dr Michael M Close, Corporate Legal Counsel at Volkswagen AG
“Thanks to The Legal 500 to be recognized as one of the most influential and innovative in-house lawyers from across Germany. I am really honoured and delighted by this award.”Ines Nicolaus, Group General Legal Counsel at Kontron AG
“Many thanks to the The Legal 500 team for adding me to the GC Powerlist 2023 for Germany in Financials yesterday. While I feel incredibly honoured and humbled by it, at the same time, I would like to mention that none of this would have been possible without the hard work, support and engagement in the past year of the wonderful team at Mondu.”Miyu Lee, Chief Legal Officer and General Counsel at Mondu
Joining the celebrations on behalf of The Legal 500 were David Goulthorpe, Managing Director and Gurpartap Basra, Head of GC Powerlist series.
We were also happy to be joined by our exclusive sponsors, Arnecke Sibeth Dabelstein and a special thank you to our speakers Sebastian Jungermann, Partner and Christine Kranich, Partner (both from Arnecke Sibeth Dabelstein) and Timo Matthias Spitzer, Executive Director and Head of Legal at Banco Santander.
We look forward to returning to Frankfurt next year!
