Editorial Board  

Main - Editorial Board

The content of the main International In-house Counsel Journal is overseen by an editorial board that meets 4 times a year to discuss content and determine which papers are accepted for publication.

The board is drawn from a range of industry sectors and jurisdiction with considerable international knowledge.

Phoebus Athanassiou, Principal Legal Counsel, European Central Bank, Germany
Academic qualifications: LLB in English and European (French) Law (London, 1998); LLM (London, 1999)Professional Qualifications: Attorney at Law (Athens Bar Association, 2003)Current Employer (2004 to date): Directorate General Legal Services, Legal Advice Division, European Central Bank Selected recent Publications:1.“Towards pan-European Hedge Fund Regulation? State of the Debate” (forthcoming in Legal Issues of Economic Integration)2.“When is e-money not e-money? Reflections on the revision of the E-money Directive’ (forthcoming in the Revue Européenne de Droit Bancaire et Financier/ European Banking and Financial Law Journal)3.“Reflections on the status of independent national authorities under Community public procurement law” Public Procurement Law Review 2007, 5, 305-324 (co-authored with Jorge García Andrade)4.“Orams v Apostolides: a case-study on the application of the Brussels I Regulation in the light of the Act of Accession 2003” Maastricht Journal of European and Comparative Law 14, 2007:2, 1195.“Towards a Single Market in Retail Financial Services: Reflections on the Role of ADR” in Legal Issues of Economic Integration, Vol 33, 2006, No 3, 229 (co-authored with S. Mavrommati)6.“Recent Developments in Greek Capital Markets Law”, in (2005), 16 European Business Law Review, 893

European Central Bank

Description of the ECB’s activities According to Article 105(1) of the Treaty EC, the primary objective of the European System of Central Banks (the ESCB) is to maintain price stability. Without prejudice hereto, the ESCB shall support the general economic policies in the Community with a view to contributing to the achievement of the objectives of the Community. Moreover, the ESCB shall act in accordance with the principle of an open market economy with free competition, favouring an efficient allocation of resources. Article 105(2) of the Treaty EC lays down that the basic tasks to be carried out through the ESCB shall be to (i) define and implement the monetary policy of the Community, (ii) to conduct foreign-exchange operations consistent with the provisions of Article 111, (iii) hold and manage the official foreign reserves of the Member States, and (iv) promote the smooth operation of payment systems. Directive 2006/48/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 June 2006 relating to the taking up and pursuit of the business of credit institutions (recast), (OJ L 177, 30.6.2006, p. 1

Andreas Blomquist, Associate Vice President, Nasdaq, Sweden
Andreas holds a LLM from the Stockholm University. Prior to joining Nasdaq in 2009, Andreas spent four years working at Mannheimer Swartling, a leading Nordic law firm, doing Banking and Finance and EU and Competition law in the Stockholm and Brussels offices. Prior to joining Mannheimer Swartling in 2005 Andreas worked at the Brussels office of Hogan Lovells. He has also been working at the European Commission's DG Competition as well as a junior judge at a Stockholm district court. At Nasdaq he is managing the legal advise to the information services and listing services business units in Europe as well as all matters relating to litigation and competition law.

Nasdaq

Nasdaq is the world’s largest exchange company with trading, technology and public company service capability spanning 6 continents. Nasdaq offers capital raising solutions to companies around the globe and is number one in worldwide listings with more than 3,600 listed companies representing $4.5 trillion in total market value. Nasdaq offers trading across multiple asset classes including equities, derivatives, debt, commodities, structured products and ETFs. Its technology supports the operations of over 70 exchanges in 50 countries. Through its Data and Financial Products units, Nasdaq provides its companies and investors with unrivaled market insight and visibility across multiple trading pools.

Russell Boltwood, Lawyer, Innovative Interfaces, Inc., USA
Legal Adviser and Corporate/Business Development Executive with Substantial Experience in All Facets of Commercial, Compliance, Corporate, Data Privacy/Internet, Employment, Intellectual Property, International, Litigation Management, Securities, Technology Licensing, Transactional and Venture Capital/Private Equity Matters.

Innovative Interfaces, Inc.

AREAS OF CONCENTRATION: • Commercial, Intellectual Property (IP), Technology and Licensing Legal Issues: Extensive Experience with Respect to Commercial and Intellectual Property Legal Issues, Including Inbound and Outbound Licensing and Commercial Services Agreements, Patent Development, IP Portfolio Management and IP Litigation Management. • Venture Capital/IPO/M&A: Advise Emerging Firms on VC Fundraising, Including Deal Negotiations and Definitive Agreement Drafting. Have Led Legal Aspects of One Successful NASDAQ IPO and Two Secondary Public Offerings. Negotiated and Managed 9 Major Multi-Jurisdiction Transactions Valued Between $10M and $145M; Managed Transactions from Inception through Final Integration. • Corporate Governance/SEC Reporting: Highly Knowledgeable in All Aspects of Pre-Public and Post-IPO Corporate Governance Issues, Including BOD Management Issues and Best Practices, SEC Reporting and Exchange Compliance. • Transnational Legal Experience: Deep International Legal Experience in Pacific Rim Countries, with Extensive Financial, Legal and Business Contacts throughout the Region. The companies and clients I work with range from emerging, venture-backed enterprises and family offices to well-known Fortune 500 firms. Most of my professional experience has been with technology companies, but I have also worked extensively with companies in the banking, consumer discretionary, light manufacturing and retail sectors as well. While the majority of my clients are located in the United States, the companies and clients I work with also come from a variety of other countries, primarily in the Pacific Rim region.

Lina Brown, Group Commercial & Legal Director, Equiniti Group, UK
Lina Brown heads up the Commercial and Legal teams that support winning new business, commercial pricing and all in-house legal activity. Leveraging her extensive commercial experience in the Financial Services, Business Process Outsourcing, Technology and Services sectors obtained through her experience at Equiniti, Level 3, Serco and VT Group, as well as her international experience, Lina supports profitable organic and acquisitive growth. Lina was a judge in the UK Business Awards 2017.

Equiniti Group

Equiniti Group Plc, the rapidly growing fintech outsourcing business, is a fintech business that provides business process outsourcing services and smart technology solutions for brands and public sector organisations involved in complex and regulated markets. Following its recent flotation on the LSE, this young PLC is a profitable fast growing business with a turnover of £382m and EBITDA of £92m in FY 2016.

Ferdinando Bruno, Head of Italian Restructuring , UniCredit Bank AG, Milan Branch, (UniCredit Group), Italy
Ferdinando Bruno is a dual qualified lawyer, as Avvocato in Italy and as Solicitor in England and Wales; he gained several years of experience in international capital markets, commercial and corporate law, insolvency, banking and finance. He is currently Managing Director and Head of Italian Restructuring of UniCredit Bank AG, Milan Branch, (UniCredit Group).

UniCredit Bank AG, Milan Branch, (UniCredit Group)

UniCredit Bank AG, Milan Branch, (UniCredit Group), formerly Bayerische Hypo- unde Vereinsbank AG, Milan Branch, and Unicredit Banca Mobiliare (UBM) S.p.A., is the investment bank of UniCredit Group, covering Debt Capital Markets, Equity Capital Markets, Corporate Finance, Investment Banking.

Lee Callaghan, General Counsel International Markets. Group Competition Counsel, Aviva Plc, UK
Lee is the General Counsel at Aviva plc for their international markets in Europe and Asia. He has over 25 years of legal experience in industry, having worked in the UK motor industry, chemical industry and for the last 13 years at Aviva. He is also the Aviva Group Competition Law General Counsel. He also serves on the Editorial Board of the ICCJ. Aviva is the UK’s largest insurer and a top 10 global insurer that operates in general, life and asset management markets worldwide.

Aviva Plc

Aviva PLC is a leading UK based insurer with an international presence in Canada, Asia and Europe as well as a leading presence in the UK market in both life and general insurance as well as pensions, asset management and protection products.

Ben Foat, Group General Counsel, Post Office, UK
Ben is Group General Counsel and a member of the executive committee of Post Office Limited and Post Office Management Services. Ben works closely with executive management and boards in helping to shape strategy, maximise commercial opportunity, and mitigate legal and regulatory risk. He is responsible for designing and implementing legal strategy, leading and delivering a broad range of projects as well as managing legal operations across the Post Office group. His area of expertise includes: financial services, regulatory law, commercial distribution arrangements, data protection, corporate governance, and dispute resolution including corporate crisis management. He holds a Bachelor of Laws (Hons), Bachelor of Arts with a double major in political science, and a Master of Laws and is dual qualified in Australia and England & Wales. Ben commenced his legal career as a Supreme Court Associate and qualified at the Australian law firm, Norton Rose (formerly Deacons). He was a senior associate in the Corporate Risk and Insurance team at Gadens, a top 10 Australian law firm before moving to the UK where he worked as Senior Legal Counsel at Zurich Insurance plc. Ben was awarded Solicitor of the Year – In-house by the Law Society in 2018 and has been shortlisted in the Financial Times OUTstanding list 2017 and 2018 for his leadership in diversity and inclusion. During Ben’s leadership, the Post Office legal team was awarded the in-house commerce & industry team of the year by The Lawyer in 2019.

Post Office

The Post Office group is a multiline business operating in numerous markets including banking, insurance, foreign exchange, payments, retail, mails, government services and telecommunications across a branch network of over 11.500 branches.

Matteo Grassani, Legal Director of KPO BV, Shell, Trinidad And Tobago
Matteo Grassani is an Italian qualified lawyer, based in Milan. He has extensive experience in corporate, energy, real estate and project finance both in private practice (Clifford Chance and Chiomenti Rome) and primary standard companies (Head of Legal at Endesa Italia). He is currently head of legal at Bg Italia (BG Group Plc). He held classes at Luiss University of Rome both in 2010 and 2011 on energy related matters.

Shell

BG Power Italy is a society of self-production of electricity and thermal energy (steam). The electricity is fed into the distribution of the network, the thermal energy is sold to Fiat plants and other users located in the vicinity of the central heating and technological purposes.

Andrew Hooles, Legal Director, Fujitsu Services Limited, UK
Andrew Hooles is a technology and outsourcing lawyer with over 20 years experience in leading complex technology deals. He is a Legal Director at Fujitsu Services Limited and has written extensively on the issues associated with technology contracts. More information can be found here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewhooles

Fujitsu Services Limited

Fujitsu is the leading Japanese information and communication technology (ICT) company, offering a full range of technology products, solutions, and services. Approximately 140,000 Fujitsu people support customers in more than 100 countries. We use our experience and the power of ICT to shape the future of society with our customers. Fujitsu Limited (TSE: 6702) reported consolidated revenues of 4.1 trillion yen (US $39 billion) for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2018. For more information, please see http://www.fujitsu.com. About Fujitsu EMEIA Fujitsu promotes a Human Centric Intelligent Society, in which innovation is driven by the integration of people, information and infrastructure. In the Europe, Middle East, India and Africa region (EMEIA), our 27,000-strong workforce is committed to Digital Co-creation, blending business expertise with digital technology and creating new value with ecosystem partners and customers. We enable our customers to digitally transform with connected technology services, focused on Artificial Intelligence, the Internet of Things, and Cloud - all underpinned by Security. For more information, please visit http://www.fujitsu.com/fts/about/

Armin Kammel, Senior Manager, Financial Services Advisory, KPMG Austria GmbH, Austria
Dr. Armin J. KAMMEL, LL.M. (London), MBA (CLU), is Head of Legal & International Affairs with the Austrian Association of Investment Fund Management Companies (VÖIG) in Vienna. In addition to this, Dr. Kammel is Honorary Professor and Faculty Member at Danube University Krems, Austria and Adjunct Faculty Member at California Lutheran University (CLU). His research areas are European and US banking law, securities regulation, corporate law, regulatory theory and the Economic Analysis of the Law. Dr. Kammel has published extensively in these areas.

KPMG Austria GmbH

The Association of Austrian Investment Companies (Vereinigung Österreichischer Investmentgesellschaften, VÖIG) was founded on 20 January 1988, and is the umbrella organisation for all Austrian investment fund management companies and all Austrian real estate investment fund management companies. VÖIG represents 100% of the fund assets managed by the Austrian investment fund management companies and real estate investment fund management companies. It is located in Vienna and is an active member of EFAMA at European and IIFA at international level. See www.voeig.at.

Fabiana Lacerca-Allen, SVP Compliance, Aimmune Therapeutics, USA
M. Fabiana Lacerca-Allen has over 30 years of experience in legal and compliance roles, working for leading American companies such as Aimmune, Elan, Mylan, Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, Microsoft, Merck, and AT&T. She has counseled and litigated in the field of international business transactions and international environmental law. She has extensive experience in the pharmaceutical industry in leadership roles in charge of legal and compliance teams. She has counseled and represented clients on a broad range of questions, including strategic business initiatives ensuring compliance with laws and regulations, and corporate policy. Ms. Lacerca-Allen has provided legal support and strategic advice on opportunities and trends in law particularly within the government sector, as well as with major and strategic corporate accounts. Fabiana has established policies and oversight on key areas of compliance affecting international markets, and she has been able to positively impact the perception of compliance, creating compliance training programs and relevant standard operating procedures and has been involved in validating and aiding due diligence in the compliance industry, frequently being requested as speaker and participant in forums. She has been recognized in the industry by Hispanic Executive Magazine in 2013, http://hispanicexecutive.com/2013/fabiana-lacerca-allen/; recognized as 2015 Women in Leadership, Inspiring Leaders: http://www.theguardian.com/women-in-leadership/2015/may/12/know-who-you-want-to be-kidnapped-with-and-four-more-tips-for-leaders; served as Chair to the Bay Area Ethics & Compliance Association (BECA); and served as Co Chair for CBI, an Advanstar company serving the Life Sciences industry. Ms. Lacerca-Allen was invited to join the Gioja Research Institute while she was a student researching on environmental law. She was recipient of 1992 UCLA’s tuition waiver based on merit and recognition, and she represented UCLA in the Roscoe Foundation National Essay Contest submitting a paper on Global Warming. About your organization Aimmune was created in response to a united call to action from the leading minds and key stakeholders in food allergy who met at an advocacy-sponsored research retreat in 2011 to reach consensus on the direction of food allergy treatment research. Among the outcomes of the retreat, the group concluded that a standard oral immunotherapy (OIT) approach needed to be established, and associated products needed to be developed. When no pharmaceutical company showed interest in developing an OIT treatment, the food allergy community formed Aimmune. Today, Aimmune is working to fulfill the 2011 shared vision of developing a peanut allergy treatment and making it available to allergists for patients worldwide.

Aimmune Therapeutics

Aimmune was created in response to a united call to action from the leading minds and key stakeholders in food allergy who met at an advocacy-sponsored research retreat in 2011 to reach consensus on the direction of food allergy treatment research. Among the outcomes of the retreat, the group concluded that a standard oral immunotherapy (OIT) approach needed to be established, and associated products needed to be developed. When no pharmaceutical company showed interest in developing an OIT treatment, the food allergy community formed Aimmune. Today, Aimmune is working to fulfill the 2011 shared vision of developing a peanut allergy treatment and making it available to allergists for patients worldwide. Aimmune is on a mission to transform the lives of patients and their families by developing pharmaceutical therapies to prevent, manage, and treat food, GI, and metabolic-related diseases.

Hersh Malhotra, Senior Legal Counsel, eBay, UK
Hersh Malhotra is a Senior Legal Counsel at eBay in the UK supporting the Marketing, Advertising, Public Relations, Trust, Monetisation and Verticals teams. He is responsible for commercial matters for these teams including content review, contract drafting and negotiation and user and regulatory (ASA) escalations. Prior to this, he was part of the eBay EMEA Litigation team responsible for matters in the UK, Italy, Israel and Denmark.

eBay

eBay is where the world goes to shop, sell, and give. Our mission is to be the world’s favourite destination for discovering great value and unique selection.

Abhijit Mukhopadhyay, President (Legal) & General Counsel, Hinduja Group, London, UK
Abhijit Mukhopadhyay is President (Legal) and General Counsel of the Hinduja Group and is involved in the Group’s worldwide legal matters based in London since June 2002. Previously, he worked in India as Company Secretary and Head of Legal in six major multinational, public and private sector companies. During his time in education, Abhijit graduated in Commerce (Honours) and Law both from the UK and India. He is also a qualified Company and Chartered Secretary both from India and the UK. In India, Abhijit has been listed in the top 50 legal professionals, the top 25 General Counsels, and the Legal 500 most powerful list. Recently Abhijit has been included in the list of top 99 General Counsels from 31 countries. The Hinduja Group, headquartered in London, employs 127,000 people in 60 countries with a global annual turnover of USD 18 billion. It has 10 business verticals in automotive, foundry, power, healthcare, BPO, lubricant, media, chemical, explosives and real estate. Abhijit was the Vice Chairman of the International Chamber of Commerce’s Commission on Arbitration and ADR as also a member of its Steering Committee in Paris (2014-2017). He is also on the Advisory Board of CCLS, Queen Mary University of London and an Executive Committee Member of the IBF, Confederation of Indian Industry, UK. He has spoken globally and his articles have been published in many countries.

Hinduja Group, London

Hinduja Group is a USD 18 Billion annual turnover conglomerate with 127,000 people operating in more than 60 countries and dealing with 10 business verticals in core sectors marketing its products in more than 100 countries and IPRs registered in more than 100 countries. Its business verticals are automotive/foundry, lubricant, BPO, healthcare including hospitals, banking, industrial explosives, power, renewable energy, media and entertainment as also real estate.

Ruth Orpwood, General Counsel, Cloudreach, UK
As General Counsel and Company Secretary of the Cloudreach group, I oversee the Legal and Corporate Governance functions and a member of the executive leadership team. Prior to Cloudreach I was GC of the semiconductor company Imagination Technologies, when it was a FTSE 250 public company, having joined as their first in-house counsel. Earlier in my career, I formed part of the legal teams at BlackBerry and Dell. I am passionate about technology and innovation as well as corporate social responsibility and ethical governance.

Cloudreach

As an original partner of the public cloud providers (AWS, MSFT Azure, Google GCP, Alibaba Cloud), Cloudreach helps enterprises take advantage of the public cloud and its infinite resources. As the leading cloud solutions provider, we’ve always done things differently. Across our outcome-driven consulting and managed services, it’s our software, our application focus and our cloud culture that makes the difference. Cloudreach is part of Blackstone’s portfolio of companies. Blackstone is one of the world’s leading investment firms with assets under management of over USD 500 billion.

Paolo Palmigiano, Chairman, Association of In-house Competition Lawyers (ICLA), UK
Paolo is a partner at Taylor Wessing. Paolo is also the chairman of the European In-house Competition Lawyers’ Association, vice-chair of BIAC (the voice of business at the OECD in Paris) and a non-governmental advisor to the CMA in the UK.

Association of In-house Competition Lawyers (ICLA)

The Association of in-house competition lawyers is an informal gathering of expert in-house competition lawyers. There are more than 300 members in 23 countries. Its main purpose, through its meetings in Brussels and in London, is to act as •A channel of communication to share information and update members on issues of common interest, including: events, general legal developments at the EU and national level, specific members’ experience and subjects of common interest (both by members and external speakers); •An opportunity to engage with competition authorities on matters of common interest. Officials from competition authorities are usually invited to attend ICLA meetings; •In some instances to submit responses to consultations of interest to in-house lawyers.

Akhil Prasad, Director and Head Legal, Boeing India Private Limited, India
Dr. Akhil Prasad is Country Counsel India and Company Secretary with Boeing International Corporation since September 2013 and is based at New Delhi. In past, he has held offices as Head of Legal and Company Secretary with Fidelity Worldwide Investment (2007 to 2013); Director India Legal Affairs & Company Secretary of The Walt Disney Company India (2005 to 2007); as Senior Attorney & Company Secretary of General Motors India (2003 to 2005); and as Assistant General Manager Legal with Electrolux Kelvinator (2000 to 2002). Prior to these assignments, he has also worked with the legal teams in Modicorp Group (including Modi Xerox and Graphtech India from 1995 to 2000). Akhil has about over 19 years’ experience as an In-house Counsel and has worked with legal teams spread across different countries. Akhil has worked across various industries in the area of legal, risk and compliance, taxation, regulatory and corporate affairs. He has worked for Steel, Office Automation, White Goods, Computer Hardware, Media & Entertainment, IT/ITES, Private Equity, Mutual Funds and now Aerospace and Defence. His areas of practice includes Contracts (including International Contracts) & Litigation, Corporate Laws, Competition Law, Environmental Laws, Intellectual Property Laws, Industrial & Employment Laws, Information Technology and Information Technology Enabled Services, Private Equity, Risk Management, Oversight and Regulatory Compliance, Media Laws, Mergers Amalgamations & Restructuring, Real Estate / Property Laws, Tax Laws. During July 2012 to early November 2012, as a visiting faculty on part-time basis, Akhil taught 'Legal Dimensions of International Business' to the final year students of "Master of International Business" program of the 'Delhi School of Economics'. From February 2014 to April 2014, Akhil as a visiting faculty will teach at the Post Graduate Program in Management of the Indian School of Business, Chandigarh (“ISB”). The topic will be “Labor Issues in Manufacturing Sector in India”. Akhil holds a Doctorate in Law (LL.D), Doctorate in Commerce (Ph.D); is a post graduate in Law; is a Fellow Member of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India and the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators, UK; is a non-practicing Solicitor of England & Wales; has done the Master of Laws (Honors) program in US laws with the Northwestern University, Chicago and Certificate in Business Administration program from Instituto de Empressa, Madrid. Akhil, therefore, has legal expertise in India, UK and the US. Akhil is the Vice – Chairman and an Advisory Board member to the Corporate Counsel Committee of the International Bar Association. He is the founder member of the Indian Corporate Counsel Association, an organisation of In-house Counsel in India iccaonline.org.in. Akhil holds professional memberships with the Institute of Company Secretaries of India; the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators, UK; the Law Society, UK; Indian Council of Arbitration, India; FACT Panel of Arbitrators & Conciliators, India. He is an avid speaker and has participated in seminars in India and outside (Paris, Madrid, Vancouver, Dubai & Boston).

Boeing India Private Limited

Aviation, Aerospace and Defense

Nishat Ruiter, General Counsel, TED Conferences, USA
Nishat Ruiter is General Counsel of TED conferences, a non profit organization that believes passionately in the power of ideas to change attitudes, lives and, ultimately, the world. Through creativity, and a deep respect for TED's mission, Nishat's work is centered on ensuring that TED's legal requirements are met through a combination of practical and creative solutions that meets its needs, while still retaining the authentic TED voice across every area where possible. She manages the legal issues with respect to TED's licensing, partnerships, TM, brand protection, TED's code of conduct, data privacy, copyright, transactions and all corporate legal matters. Prior to TED, she worked as Associate General Counsel where she spent ten years in a variety of roles including managing legal issues on all marketing and advertising, M&A integration, and led the North American legal team responsible for the legal review of $1B/year in licensing transactions at CA Technologies. She also worked as Managing Counsel at LivePerson, provided in house counsel legal support to Chubb Insurance, Binary Tree.com and Capco. She is a visiting guest lecturer at Fordham Law School (New York) since 2013, faculty for the Practicing Law Institute, and has served on the Editorial Board of the International In-house Counsel Journal (London). Inspired by a Bahá’í perspective on things, she loves resolving the most complex problems with an elegant solution, but always with coffee on hand. She enjoys music, tennis, hosting Spiritual Cafes in her community to foster meaningful conversations, and finding connectedness with people from all walks of life. She is married and mother of two teenagers. You can follow her on twitter @nishatruiter.

TED Conferences

TED is a nonprofit devoted to spreading ideas, usually in the form of short, powerful talks (18 minutes or less). TED began in 1984 as a conference where Technology, Entertainment and Design converged, and today covers almost all topics — from science to business to global issues — in more than 100 languages. Meanwhile, independently run TEDx events help share ideas in communities around the world.

Maurus Schreyvogel, Chief Legal Innovation Officer, Novartis International AG, Switzerland
As Chief Legal Innovation Officer, Maurus Schreyvogel drives peak in-house legal department performance and accelerates functional innovation. He focuses on corporate legal department best practices and future needs, and application of technologies to increase value to the business while driving down cost and fostering a globally connected culture. His responsibilities also include Legal operations, global processes and systems. He is a member of the Group Legal Leadership Team. Maurus began his legal career at a Zurich law firm in 2002 and joined the Corporate IP department of Novartis in 2004. In 2007, Maurus transitioned to a two-year rotation in Finance and Audit and in 2009 he joined the Corporate Legal department as Program Manager. In this role Maurus led strategic, cost-saving Legal and IP initiatives such as the implementation of a global spend management program, the establishment of preferred law firm panels and the introduction of legal knowledge and matter management. In 2013 Maurus assumed responsibility for Legal operations and operational excellence. Between 2015 and 2017 he served as Chief of Staff to the Group General Counsel. Maurus received his law degree from the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland in 2002 and holds a Global Executive MBA from IE Business School in Spain.

Novartis International AG

Novartis is a global healthcare company based in Switzerland that provides solutions to address the evolving needs of patients worldwide.

Charlotte Stetzel, Regional Legal Counsel, DNV GL, UK
Charlotte has global legal responsibility for Business Assurance in DNV GL, a world leading certification body that works with companies to assure performance through certification, verification, assessment and training. The Business Assurance Group in DNV GL is at the cutting edge of using new technology to improve services. Charlotte has recently been involved in advising on the purchase of a stake in leading public blockchain service provider VeChain and the implementation of My Story, a blockchain based Digital Assurance solution combining physical audits with data collection and verification services. Charlotte is also Regional Legal Counsel for Europe & Africa for the DNV GL Group which, along with a team of 8 lawyers, involves advising 41 countries across all business areas on various legal issues such as contracts, litigation, governmental affairs and M&A . Before joining DNV GL, Charlotte worked for a Magic Circle Firm and a leading International Law Firm where she advised major offshore construction, drilling and other oilfield services contractors. She received instructions from a wide range of jurisdictions and has acted in ICC, LMAA, ICSID and ad hoc arbitrations.

DNV GL

DNV GL enables organisations to enhance the safety and sustainability of their business in six key areas: Oil and Gas Maritime Business Assurance Digital Solutions Energy DNV GL Rules and Standards A full description of the organisation can be found at : https://www.dnvgl.com

Richard Tapp, Former: Company Secretary and Director of Legal Services, Carillion plc, UK
Richard Tapp is Company Secretary and Director of Legal Services at Carillion plc. Carillion plc is a major FTSE-listed integrated support services and construction business operating in the UK and internationally. He leads professional teams numbering more than 150 people, including a team of some 30 qualified legal staff globally in Carillion’s legal team, the group’s Ethics and Compliance Office, Corporate Secretariat, Communications, Government Affairs, Mergers and Acquisitions and Global Insurance teams. He is the architect of the ground-breaking Carillion Advice Services - a managed legal services team which provides a range of legal services and resources, both through a number of new legal sourcing offerings and through the Legal Aid Scheme. He has led a range of innovative legal sourcing arrangements for Carillion, including the formation and development of the Carillion Legal Network, and the integration of its work with that of Carillion Legal and Carillion Advice Services. He is the general editor of The Future of the In-House Lawyer: the General Counsel Revolutino (Law Society Publishing - to be published Spring 2016) co-author of In-House Lawyers’ Toolkit (Law Society) and Managing External Legal Resources (ICSA) and speaks and writes on in-house, legal practice management and corporate governance issues. He was FT Innovative Lawyers European In-House Lawyer of the year in 2013. Before joining Carillion plc in 2002, he was for six years Company Secretary and Group Legal Adviser for Blue Circle Industries PLC, a FTSE 100 heavy building materials business operating globally. He has specialised in corporate and compliance work, leading merger and acquisition work internationally and having responsibility for competition and anti-trust work in a number of jurisdictions. He has established, run and integrated in-house legal teams in North and South America, Europe, Australasia, the Middle East and Asia. Richard is a Solicitor. He holds Batchelor’s and Master’s degrees in law, and a Master of Business Administration. He is also a qualified Chartered Secretary and Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators. He is Visiting Faculty at the International Law Management Executive Programme for senior lawyers run by Instituto Empresa in Madrid.

Carillion plc

Carillion is a leading integrated support services company with a substantial portfolio of Public Private Partnership projects and extensive construction capabilities. The Group had annual revenue in 2015 of some £4.6 billion, employs around 46,000 people and operates across the UK, in the Middle East and Canada. The Group has four business segments. Support services - this includes facilities management, facilities services, energy services, utility services, road maintenance, rail services and consultancy services. Public Private Partnership (PPP) projects - this includes investing activities in PPP projects for Government buildings and infrastructure, mainly in the Defence, Health, Education, Transport and Secure accommodation sectors. Middle East construction services - this includes building and civil engineering activities in the Middle East. Construction services (excluding the Middle East) - this includes building, civil engineering and developments activities in the UK and construction activities in Canada. Carillion news releases can be found at www.carillionplc.com

Ioli Tassopoulou, Head of Legal and Compliance, UK and Ireland, Nokia , UK
Ioli Tassopoulou is Head of Legal & Compliance, UK & Ireland at Nokia; she manages a team of seven and has responsibility over these jurisdictions as well as for a global Nokia customer. In addition, Ioli is serving on the Board of Directors at Nokia UK, Nokia Ireland and Nokia Greece. Before joining Nokia, Ioli was a partner in private practice at an international law firm. Ioli graduated from Oxford University (University College) with a degree in Jurisprudence and holds a LL.M. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School. She has been admitted to the Law Society of England & Wales and to the Bar of the State of New York. Ioli has moderated various panels at several international conferences.

Nokia

Nokia is a Finnish multinational telecommunications and information technology corporation, listed on the New York Stock Exchange and the Helsinki Stock Exchange.

Andrew Taylor, General Counsel, Hesco Group, UK
Andrew trained and qualified as a solicitor with Pinsent Masons LLP in Leeds, before practising as an Associate in Eversheds’ Construction and Engineering team for 5 years where he acted for a variety of clients, including manufacturers, contractors, energy companies, and consultants, undertaking both transactional and dispute resolution work. He joined Hesco in May 2012 and is the Group's General Counsel.

Hesco Group

Hesco is a world leader and innovator in the design and manufacture of rapidly deployable barrier systems. Since 1991 we have been at the forefront of earth-filled barrier technology, saving countless lives and millions of dollars worth of property and equipment.

Miroslav Uricar, Partner, Legalité Law firm, Czech Republic
Miroslav Uricar specializes in administrative law and regulatory issues related to network industries, especially the electronic communications industry, as well as personal data protection. His expertise is based on 18 years spent in managerial positions in the area of law at T-Mobile Czech Republic a.s., a provider of electronic communications services, including more than 12 years in the company’s top management, namely in the post of General Counsel. In this position, he was responsible for the Legal, Regulatory, External Affairs, Business Security and Compliance units, including participation in international projects within the Deutsche Telekom AG Group. Currently Miroslav Uricar is partner at LEGALITÉ Law firm based in Prague. Miroslav Uricar is a member of the Commission on Public Law – the Commission on Administrative Law of the Legislative Council of the Czech Government. He also works as an arbitrator of the Arbitration Court attached to the Economic Chamber of the Czech Republic and the Agricultural Chamber of the Czech Republic. He regularly contributes to various professional journals, is a member of the Editorial Board of the International In-house Counsel Journal, and he occasionally lectures at conferences and seminars, mostly focusing on regulatory issues, competition law, compliance and personal data protection. Miroslav is also a member of the Executive Committee of UNICEF Czech Republic.

Legalité Law firm

LEGALITÉ advokátní kancelár s.r.o. (Law firm)

James Wilson, Senior Counsel, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, UK
James Wilson, Senior Counsel, joined EBRD in 2005. He has advised on over 150 signed debt and equity financings in many of the EBRD countries particularly in the sectors of mining and natural resources, renewable energy, real estate, distressed assets, private equity funds and ship finance. Prior to EBRD, James was a corporate M&A lawyer focussing on private equity transactions and fundraisings at Lovells London with secondments to the Lovells, Moscow and Prague offices. James has an LLB Honours in Scots law from the University of Aberdeen, an LLM in maritime law from the University of Southampton and was admitted as a Scots solicitor in 1996 and as an English solicitor in 1998.

European Bank for Reconstruction and Development

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is an international financial institution which is owned by 61 countries and two intergovernmental institutions and which supports the development of market economies and democracies in countries from central Europe to central and the southern and eastern Mediterranean.