FINANCE MONTHLY DEAL MAKERS OF THE YEAR AWARDS WINNER BÖRGE SEEGER Partner and Head of the Life Sciences Group NEUWERK To begin with, what was it that sparkedyour interest in law? At the age of 16/17, I spent a year abroad in the United States (I went to high school in LA). It was during this time that I first came into contact with ‘Moot Court’, a simulated court proceeding for high school students. I found that incredibly exciting – and by the end of the year I knew I wanted to study and practice law. Why did you choose IP and IT law as your primary areas of specialisation? I have always had a knack for IT. While I was in law school in the mid-90s, I coded some of the first websites for German courts in my spare time and was involved in some IT projects in the German healthcare sector. Later in my job I realised that good IT advice requires a deep understanding of IP issues. Today at NEUWERK, I have the great privilege to work exactly at the intersection of these topics: We regularly advise pharmaceutical and biotech companies on e-health and (data) licensing issues. For me, this is the best combination of both worlds! How have you seen these fields change over the course of your career? I think IP and IT law remain some of the most dynamic areas of law around. In the 15 years that I have been practicing law, these fields have changed fundamentally. To give some examples, we have seen massive new legislation to protect privacy (e.g. GDPR and CCPA), increased enforcement of computer crime and cybercrime laws, new protections for online copyright infringement, the development of the Internet of Things (IoT), the need for increased data security and regulation and the development of cloud computing and AI. University Clinic of Cologne agrees collaboration with BioNTech Finance Monthly. 69 Special Feature
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