Legal traineeship at thyssenkrupp: Legal advice on an international level

After his first state examinations in law in Bonn and various traineeships in Düsseldorf, Viktor Rieping had originally planned to go to Brussels for his next placement.  However, he made the last-minute decision to explore other career prospects outside the traditional law firm route. He made the most of the opportunity and familiarised himself with the work of an in-house lawyer at thyssenkrupp. Viktor had had such a positive experience working at thyssenkrupp during his elective placement that he could think of no better place than here to start his career as a fully qualified lawyer.

After studying in Bonn and Barcelona and passing his exams, Viktor began the practical part of his training to become a fully qualified lawyer. Viktor first embarked upon a legal traineeship at Düsseldorf District Court and completed his administrative placement at the German Embassy in Mexico City before joining a renowned law firm in Düsseldorf for his judicial placement. Here, he mainly dealt with antitrust law and intellectual property law.

When Viktor had to cancel his originally planned elective placement in Brussels at short notice due to the spread of COVID-19 in 2020, he applied for a job at thyssenkrupp. It turned out to be the right decision. “My three-month legal traineeship at thyssenkrupp proved to be very exciting and international. I was immediately impressed by being able to provide legal advice directly at an operational level and within my area of responsibility,” Viktor reports.

Huge bandwidth in an international group

One thing is clear: Viktor would definitely recommend thyssenkrupp to other judicial trainees as a possible employer for their judicial or elective placement: “If you’re looking to familiarise yourself with the activities of an in-house lawyer and learn more about the legal issues facing the corporate world, thyssenkrupp is just perfect as an international group.  You will be actively involved in advisory mandates with colleagues in the legal and compliance departments, develop your own legal solutions and be able to contribute on an equal footing.” 

The positive experiences he had during his legal traineeship made a lasting impression on Viktor: As a fully qualified lawyer, he found his professional home at thyssenkrupp – and benefited from the enormous range of business segments and areas of responsibility the company has to offer.

Initially, Viktor joined thyssenkrupp Materials Services – the largest plant-independent B2B materials trader and service provider in the Western world – as a Compliance Officer/ in-house lawyer. Together with the compliance team there, he implemented thyssenkrupp’s compliance programme in the areas of anti-corruption, antitrust law, data protection, money laundering and foreign trade and payments legislation.

Exciting legal issues and diverse day-to-day business

Now he advises thyssenkrupp’s Automotive Technology segment – which brings together leading suppliers and engineering partners in the automotive industry – in his capacity as Legal Counsel.

He is fascinated by the varied and exciting legal issues with which he is confronted. He specialises primarily in civil law - in particular contract law, contract review and drafting. In addition to legal issues in the automotive supply business, his workdays consist of dealing with the challenges that go hand in hand with plant construction.

He is constantly having to analyse complex issues and develop legal solutions and options every day at work and conveying these complex, legal aspects to his internal colleagues in a comprehensive way represents a particular challenge. Subsequently, the focus has fallen on asserting legal interests against contractual partners with strong market positions, whereby creative approaches to solutions and perseverance are essential.

“I really enjoy being able to work closely with colleagues from other departments to develop suitable solutions for both the challenges of the day-to-day business and overarching strategic business decisions,” explains Viktor. In his day-to-day work, he upholds the highest standards of quality with his legal advice and enables his colleagues to successfully assert the company’s interests in commercial negotiations. Viktor appreciates the constant support of his colleagues as well as the exchange of experience with them, despite the high degree of independence and freedom he enjoys within his area of responsibility.

If you are interested in spending your legal or elective traineeship at thyssenkrupp, click here.