What are the most significant cases, projects and transactions that you and your legal team have recently been involved in?

The conversion of Talanx from an AG to a Societas Europaea (SE) is one of the most significant current matters for my legal department due to its strategic, structural, and international impact. The SE form aligns Talanx’ legal identity with its global footprint, reflecting that more than half of employees and a large share of revenues originate within the EU.

The project also carries substantial legal and organizational complexity. It requires a structured, multi-stage process—from the Supervisory Board resolution to coordinated CEO/MD information calls and the establishment of a special negotiating body (bVG). These steps demand precise timing, extensive cross-functional communication, and legal oversight across multiple jurisdictions.

My team plays a central role in steering the project, coordinating international stakeholders, preparing communication packages, structuring CEO outreach, and ensuring compliance with both German and European legal requirements. The high internal visibility, governance implications, and long-term relevance for Talanx’ corporate structure make the AG-to-SE conversion one of the most consequential and resource-intensive legal projects currently underway.

AI has been taken seriously as a potentially revolutionary technological change in the legal world for a number of years now. Has it had a meaningful impact in how your legal team works in this time?

AI has begun to fundamentally change the way Talanx’s Group Legal department works, particularly through the introduction and rollout of Harvey, which has become the department’s central generative AI tool. Since mid-2023, we have evaluated various AI solutions and identified Harvey as the most promising candidate for analysing documents, drafting texts and supporting complex research.

The practical implications are obvious: AI helps us speed up labour-intensive tasks such as reviewing large documents, structuring contracts and analysing regulations. It reduces repetitive workload and improves efficiency, allowing lawyers to focus more on complex, judgement-intensive matters. This has already led to an increase in productivity and motivation within the team.

Overall, through Harvey, AI has evolved from the experimental phase to a meaningful application and has become an everyday tool that significantly improves the performance, quality of results and working style of the Talanx Group’s legal department.