Professional Biography

Michael Maistry is an executive legal leader with a distinguished track record across highly regulated, complex operating environments. Currently serving as Executive Head of Legal at American Tower Corporation, he brings a commercially grounded, people-centric approach to legal leadership, positioning legal as a strategic enabler of sustainable growth.

Previously, Michael held senior legal leadership roles at Roche, where he led Legal, Compliance, Privacy and Risk functions across developing markets. In addition to his legal mandate, he was appointed Ad-Interim General Manager for Roche Pharma South Africa, assuming full accountability for business performance, people leadership and governance across multiple markets. Under his leadership, the organisation delivered its strongest performance in three years, reinforcing the evolving role of in-house counsel as enterprise leaders.

Michael is recognised for his ability to navigate high-stakes, sensitive matters, including complex regulatory engagements, competition law issues and transformative commercial transactions. His work consistently balances legal integrity with commercial pragmatism, stakeholder trust and long-term organisational resilience.

His leadership philosophy is grounded in empowerment, trust and strategic clarity, with a strong belief that high-performing legal teams thrive when deeply integrated into the business. He is particularly passionate about the intersection of law, risk, data governance and AI, and how these disciplines must evolve to support ethical innovation.

Michael has been recognised as a Leading Counsel by Legal 500, was a finalist for General Counsel of the Year, and led his team to win Risk & Compliance Department of the Year at the African Legal Awards. He also holds a Data Analyst Track credential from Statworx, reflecting his commitment to data-informed strategy and digital transformation.

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

I believe resilience during periods of instability starts with legal being deeply embedded in the business rather than operating as a reactive control function.

This proximity enables in-house counsel to understand the organisation’s strategic intent, operational realities and risk appetite, and to calibrate advice accordingly. In times of uncertainty or crisis, decisions often need to be made with incomplete information; legal judgment therefore needs to be principled, pragmatic and forward-looking.

By maintaining strong relationships across executive leadership, operations and external stakeholders, legal can support measured, values-aligned decision-making, ensuring compliance while protecting long-term organisational resilience and trust.

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

During the past year, I served for six months as Ad-Interim General Manager at Roche Pharma South Africa, alongside my legal leadership role.

This was a particularly unique experience for a lawyer, as it involved full accountability for financial performance, commercial execution, people leadership, governance and external engagement. Being entrusted with and succeeding in this role reinforced the evolving value proposition of in-house counsel – not only as legal advisors, but as enterprise leaders with a deep understanding of organisational interdependencies.

Legal leaders are often uniquely positioned to see across silos, manage competing priorities and balance risk with opportunity, and this experience validated how legal capability, when combined with commercial and people leadership, can drive meaningful business outcomes.

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?

One of the most significant trends I am observing is the rapid evolution and fragmentation of traditional legal and compliance roles.

With the increasing prominence of ESG, data protection, AI governance, enterprise risk and ethics, these areas are often aggregated under legal by default. However, I believe we are approaching a point where deeper specialisation is required to ensure these disciplines meaningfully inform strategy rather than operate as compliance checklists.

Risk, in particular, is becoming a critical decision-making capability rather than an abstract or retrospective exercise. Organisations should be actively considering whether future-ready legal functions require distinct but closely aligned expertise across legal, risk, data and technology governance.

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

People-centric leadership and empowerment are central to how I approach both business and legal leadership.

Too often, individuals are defined narrowly by role, qualification or historical experience, despite operating in a rapidly evolving environment that demands adaptability and curiosity. People are an organisation’s greatest long-term asset, and unless they feel trusted and valued, significant capability often remains untapped.

As AI and automation accelerate, there is a risk that efficiency becomes the sole objective. I am passionate about ensuring that technology is used to augment human judgment, creativity and leadership, not replace it – enabling sustainable innovation and resilient organisations.