GC Influencers
Most Influential GCs - Global-wide
Friederike Rotsch of Merck KGaA
Friederike Rotsch swift progression through Merck Group’s legal department is testament to both her strong combination of legal expertise and commercial skills and also the strong esteem in which she is held by internal and external observers. After arriving at the German life sciences business in 2005, after three years as an associate at Hengeler Mueller, she took on roles as head of the group’s corporate legal services team and internal auditing teams in 2007 and 2011 respectively, before assuming the top legal role in 2014. She and her department of almost 200 lawyers and wider staff advise the business on all its legal, intellectual property and regulatory compliance issues, with the team’s transactional nous amply demonstrated in late 2018 through the EUR3.4 billion sale of Merck’s consumer health division to Procter & Gamble. Rothsch also finds favour for her commitment to gender diversity and oversees a legal team with a significant number of female lawyers and leadership figures.