What are the key projects you have been involved in over the past twelve months?

Over the past twelve months, the Clearstream Luxembourg legal department has focused on navigating pioneering regulatory landscapes, enabling digital market evolution and securing systemic readiness for major European market infrastructure shifts. My philosophy as head of legal is to act as a strategic business partner, ensuring that legal and regulatory frameworks serve as catalysts for innovation rather than hurdles. We successfully applied this philosophy across three landmark initiatives. First, we championed digital market infrastructure by structuring the legal framework for our D7 digital post-trade platform under the EU DLT Pilot Regime. By collaborating closely with regulators and designing novel contractual architectures, we established a legally secure pathway that reduces tokenised debt issuance times from days to minutes.

What key trends should in-house counsel be monitoring over the coming months?

The role of the in-house counsel is rapidly evolving from a legal advisor to a strategic, cross-disciplinary architect. To stay ahead, counsel must monitor trends that sit at the intersection of technology and regulation.

How have you implemented AI to improve efficiency while maintaining quality, governance and integrity within legal teams?

At Deutsche Börse Group, implementing AI is not just about adopting technology; it is about establishing a rigorous framework of “human-in-the-loop” governance. We have pioneered the adoption of Deutsche Börse Group’s secure, proprietary Generative AI platform, ensuring that all AI-driven legal activities remain strictly within a highly controlled, enterprise-grade environment.

How do you manage situations where legal advice and commercial objectives conflict?

My philosophy is to reframe the conflict as a shared challenge. I see these situations not as a roadblock, but as a prompt for creative problem-solving. My first step is always to move beyond the stated ‘ask’ and collaborate with the business to deeply understand the underlying commercial driver. From there, we work as partners to map out the spectrum of risks and potential rewards together. I never lead with “we can’t,” but instead with “how can we?” This involves structuring alternative pathways, re-engineering a product’s legal basis, or adjusting risk appetite in a controlled, documented way. This approach builds trust and ensures that the final strategy is both commercially ambitious and legally resilient.