Could you share an example of a time when you came up with an innovation that improved how your legal team works and did not come at a large expense?  

The Law, Patents and Compliance function at Bayer Global, shortly known as LPC, continuously strives to offer realistic and efficient support to all its global local teams through innovative initiatives and solutions. One of the most recent initiatives is the LPC digital platform, one of the largest in the world and has received many accolades and awards, including being recognised by the Financial Times Europe in 2021 and 2022 as the most innovative in-house legal operations initiative. Using this platform locally, where all employees have access, simplifies workflows of compliance advice and support in standard recurring topics and areas. On top of that, and at a local level, NWOWs offered great opportunities to the legal function to operate more efficiently, cooperatively, and flexibly. Organising cross-functional Retrospectives allowed a better understanding of the legal and other functions’ collaboration mechanics, which led to more successful cooperation. Regular digital cross-functional jour fixes facilitated proactive and timely legal and compliance support. In contrast, efficient digital archiving of documentation in common folders accessible on a need-to-access basis offered a transparent, organised and easily traceable operational context. 

What are the most significant cases or transactions that your legal team has recently been involved in?    

Working with a multinational company that operates in 83 countries around the globe with a diversity of products from pharmaceuticals, medical devices, OTCs, vitamins, cosmetics, crop protection products, and seeds creates a continuously challenging environment for an in-house counsel. At Bayer Hellas, the legal function supports all three commercial divisions of Bayer, which are locally present, Pharmaceuticals, Crop Science, and Consumer Health, as well as all corporate functions. This support covered a wide range of areas, including contractual support, adaptation to new legislative requirements (such as the recent Greek Whistleblowing Law and the German Supply Chain Due Diligence Act), support on launching new products, ongoing counselling on corporate and commercial matters, support to R&D and clinical trial operations, counselling and advise on introduction of new digital tools, dispute resolution, and localisation of global Bayer projects and initiatives. 

How important is choosing to work with external lawyers who align with your company’s values? Are you likely to reconsider what firms you work with based on this?   

Contributing to sustainable development is a core element of Bayer’s corporate strategy and our core values. Guided by our vision, ‘Health for all, Hunger for none, we promote inclusive growth and responsible use of resources to help people and the planet thrive. By collaborating responsibly with our suppliers, we aim to minimise risks and create stable, long-term business relationships with our partners. For this reason, we also apply environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) standards in choosing new partners or continuing our relationships with existing ones. These principles are defined in Bayer’s Supplier Code of Conduct, which generally forms the basis for our supplier collaboration. Partnering in the legal field with ethical and trusted external partners that share and align with Bayer’s standards, values, and vision is not only of the highest importance to us but also imperative.