The Association of Corporate Counsel Europe (ACC Europe), serving over 2500 lawyers practicing in corporations and other organizations throughout Europe, has announced Hans Albers, chief of staff legal and associate general counsel, Juniper Networks, has been elected president of the ACC Europe board of directors.

Growth targets

As president of ACC Europe, Mr Albers aims to grow membership in the chapter and further increase the value that in-house lawyers across the continent derive from ACC’s legal resources, knowledge-sharing and education, advocacy, and networking. He also aims to foster innovation in the profession, including expanding chapter programming on implementing new legal technology and growing resources and conversations on strategies to drive change. Mr Albers said, ‘in today’s often volatile business climate, it’s more important than ever that an in-house lawyer has strong peer network and access to trusted resources.’ Commenting on his election, Mr Albers said ‘European in-house lawyers have found these connections within ACC Europe, and I look forward to serving our membership base in the year ahead.’

New officers

At Juniper Networks, Mr Albers is chief of staff to the general counsel and oversees the strategic planning for the legal department, including budgets, outside counsel management, communications, strategic initiatives and projects. He was previously senior director and associate general counsel EMEA at Juniper Networks and has been a member of the ACC Europe board of directors since 2015. Over the course of his career, Mr Albers has managed lawyers handling a wide variety of matters in the European Union, US, and emerging markets, including M&A, compliance and internal investigations, corporate governance, litigation, and general commercial. In addition to Mr Albers, new officers elected the ACC Europe board of directors are the following: vice president Maria Pernas, executive vice president, group general counsel, Capgemini (France); secretary Jeremy Barton, general counsel, KPMG (UK); and, treasurer George Liakopoulos, group general counsel, Piraeus Bank SA (Greece).