Team size: Germany-based legal team, embedded in a global legal organisation. 

What are the most significant cases, projects and/or transactions that you and/or your legal team have recently been involved in?
 
Over the past year, my team and I have been heavily involved in complex, technology-driven projects at the intersection of IT services, cloud, data protection, and AI governance. This includes, in addition to classic IT support and consulting, advising on large-scale outsourcing and transformation projects for regulated and non-regulated clients, supporting AI-enabled service offerings, and designing legally robust frameworks for data processing, cybersecurity, and cross-border service delivery.

A particular focus lies in embedding legal-by-design principles into business processes: developing scalable contract playbooks, AI usage guidelines, and standardised risk frameworks that allow the business to move quickly while remaining within clearly defined legal guardrails. We also support internal transformation initiatives, including the redesign of legal intake processes and the use of legal tech and AI tools to increase transparency, speed, and consistency.

How do you approach managing legal aspects during periods of instability or crisis to ensure the organisation’s resilience?

In periods of instability, legal resilience is built on preparation, clarity, and trust. My approach is to distinguish early between issues that are genuinely existential and those that can be managed with proportionate controls. Clear escalation paths, predefined risk thresholds, and close alignment with management are critical.

Equally important is communication: translating legal risks into business-relevant options, trade-offs, and scenarios. Legal should not amplify uncertainty but provide orientation and structure, enabling leadership to make informed decisions under pressure.

What strategies do you employ to ensure the successful digital transformation of a legal department while maintaining compliance with your country’s data protection laws?

Legal-by-design means that legal, regulatory, and ethical requirements are built into processes from the outset, not bolted on at the end. This mindset is crucial in a digital and AI-enabled environment. Processes must nowadays be designed for AI, not for humans, requiring structured data, clear decision rules, and explicit risk thresholds so that AI can support decisions safely and consistently. Done well, legal-by-design provides the business with speed and clarity, because compliant paths are already embedded in tools and workflows. We integrate legal, IT, data protection, compliance, and other stakeholders early to ensure governance alignment and lasting adoption. A strong data foundation is equally vital: AI performs only as well as the quality, structure, and governance of its data. This approach ensures that data protection compliance is not an afterthought but rather the architecture upon which our digital transformation is built.

Have you had any experiences during your career as a lawyer that stand out as particularly unique or interesting?

Working in an international IT and consulting environment has strongly shaped my perspective. Legal questions rarely exist in isolation; they are deeply intertwined with technology, operations, and strategy. Building legal frameworks that scale globally, while respecting local regulatory realities, has been both challenging and highly formative.

Given the current geopolitical shifts and growing uncertainties around international free trade, has your company’s risk profile evolved, and are you taking measures to address these challenges?

Geopolitical fragmentation, trade restrictions, and regulatory divergence have clearly increased complexity. Our response is not ad hoc risk avoidance, but the building of contractual resilience, flexible sourcing models, and robust compliance frameworks that can absorb change without constantly renegotiating the fundamentals.

Based on your experiences in the past year, are there any trends in the legal or business world that you are keeping an eye on that you think other in-house lawyers should be mindful of?

Key trends include AI regulation and governance, the professionalisation of legal operations, increasing ESG enforcement, and the shift from reactive compliance to embedded, system-based risk management. In-house lawyers will increasingly require technological and strategic fluency alongside legal expertise.

How can general counsel foster a corporate culture that supports ESG principles and compliance across all levels of the organisation?

 
General Counsel can foster an ESG culture by translating principles into clear rules, processes, and accountability, supported by training and leadership by example. ESG must be operationalised, not moralised, to be effective across all levels of the organisation. 

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 is already having a meaningful impact, particularly in contract analysis, intake triage, knowledge management, and summarisation. The goal is not to replace legal judgement, but to augment it – freeing experienced lawyers to focus on high-impact, strategic issues.

What is a cause, business or otherwise, that you are passionate about? Why is this?

 
I am passionate about modernising the legal function—transforming it from reactive firefighting into a data-driven, tech-enabled strategic partner for the business. In today’s world, businesses require a legal team that truly acts as a strategic partner, and this can only be achieved by harnessing the technological possibilities now available to us.

What factors influence your team’s decision to use external legal services versus handling matters in-house, and what criteria are used to evaluate their performance?

We use external counsel selectively for highly specialised, novel, or capacity-intensive matters. Performance is evaluated based on legal quality, commercial understanding, efficiency, and the ability to integrate seamlessly with our in-house team.

How does your team contribute to the overall business strategy of the company? Can you share an example of a recent legal-led initiative that had a significant impact?

Legal contributes by enabling safe growth. A current example is the development of standardised AI and data governance frameworks, which allow the business to scale innovative offerings while maintaining compliance and trust.

Looking forward, what trends do you foresee in the legal landscape over the next 5–10 years that companies should prepare for?

Over the next five to ten years, legal departments will become more data-driven, tech-enabled, and integrated into core business decisions. Those that invest early in legal operations, AI governance, and strategic capability will be best positioned to succeed.