Dr. Monica Armillotta, LL.M.

Novartis, Munich, Germany

Global Data/Digital and IT Senior Legal Counsel

• Leading global operations and business transactions, including technology licensing, cloud computing, IT security, and AI, to ensure legal compliance and alignment with Novartis' strategic objectives, both across regions and business sectors
• Counseling on IT operations, data protection, intellectual property, and complex digital transactions, influencing key decisions within the organization
• Overseeing and negotiating high-stakes contracts for IT infrastructure, outsourcing, and software licensing, supporting global business operations
• Advising on AI and data-related legal issues, ensuring compliance with evolving regulations and guiding business strategies
• Partnering with global procurement and senior management to effectively drive critical projects, resolve disputes, and deliver training to shape awareness of key legal issues across the organization

Reference Letters available 

Wipro Technologies, Munich, Germany

Senior Corporate Legal Counsel for Europe

• Leading key strategic negotiations (100-800+ Mio €) and F2F discussions across Europe and the Nordics, with direct accountability towards both internal and external customers
• Providing expert corporate guidance on Data Protection and corporate compliance matters in my quality of Professional Certified EU GDPR Foundation and Practitioner
• Being the primary European contact to address articulated IP issues, also across jurisdictions, including patent law, technology transfer, licensing strategies and competition law, driving from my in-depth expertise on the subject (PhD Award and LL.M. in IP and Competition Law)
• Advising on commercial agreements, major IT and infrastructure contracts, software licenses and large enterprise agreements in a fast-paced, international sales environment
• Providing in-depth legal advice and recommendations on employment, privacy and corporate issues, including on rebadging and TUPE integration company acquisitions
• Shaping and implementing, also through ad-hoc training, policy guidelines and corporate strategies in view of ensuring legal compliance

Reference Letters available 

Voerdea Holding - Aquaworx Deutschland GmbH, Munich, Germany

Legal Counsel

• Appraisal and coordination of ongoing forensic activities and underlying legal claims, focusing particularly on financial and corporate compliance matters, directly relating to the upper management and stockholders
• Fact-based assessment and outline of relevant financial, corporate and legal issues for internal evaluation and targets-setting
• Support of management and business units on legal operations and related decision-making processes

Reference Letter available 

Bayerisches Rotes Kreuz - Alten Service Zentrum Lehel, Munich, Germany

Social Aide, Voluntary Civic Engagement

Red Hat Group, EMEA Headquarters, Munich, Germany

Senior Contracts Specialist

• Design and negotiation of commercial agreements with customers and partners, with direct report to the EMEA Regional Counsel, in a fast-paced, quarterly-driven multinational company listed in the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE)
• Fostering customers and partners' awareness on open source, collaborative-driven software development and IP-related/licensing principles underlying the company's business model
• Enforcement and maintenance of corporate global policies

Reference Letter available 

Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty AG, Munich, Germany

Expert Claims Handler Liability

• Investigating and handling complex liability claims in direct and indirect business in foreign countries world-wide
• Independent legal assessment of coverage and liability on the base of specifically tailored insurance policies, particularly focusing on general and products liability
• Managing and coordinating international insurance programs world-wide under master and local policies, esp. for major clients and pharmaceutical corporations, also involving clinical trials and the patenting of new medications
• Evaluating the amount of loss and leading effective negotiations in view of reaching non-prejudicial settlement agreements under “best terms” with claimants and/or their legal representatives

Reference Letter available 

Treofan Germany GmbH & Co KG, Raunheim, Germany

Corporate Legal Counsel

• Providing legal advice to Italian and international subsidiaries in commercial and corporate matters
• Drafting and negotiating commercial agreements
• Independent legal assessment and handling of claims, also towards international customers, in view of clearing them or eventually reaching a non-prejudicial settlement
• Supplying general legal counsel to business and purchasing units in Europe
• Implementing group level policy guidelines and corporate strategies

Reference Letter available 

Institute of Intellectual Property (IIP), Tokyo, Japan

Invited Researcher

• Managing a research project sponsored by the Japanese Patent Office on “Japanese Guidelines on Standardization and Patent Pool Arrangements: Practical and Legal Considerations under the Current Antimonopoly Act - A Global Perspective”

Max Planck Institute for Intellectual Property, Competition and Tax Law & Ludwig Maximilians University (LMU), Munich, Germany

Research Fellow, Doctoral Candidate

• Developing my Ph.D. Thesis on “Technology Pooling Licensing Agreements: Promoting Patent Access through Collaborative IP Mechanisms”
• Contributing to the international law review GRUR Int

Reference letter, Prof. Dr. Straus, Director Max Planck Institute 
Doctoral exam with: “magna cum laude” 
Doctoral dissertation retained for publication by Nomos

Munich Intellectual Property Law Center (MIPLC), Munich, Germany

LL.M. in Intellectual Property and Competition Law

Jointly led by the Max Planck Institute for IP, Competition and Tax Law, the Technische Universität München, the University of Augsburg and the George Washington University Law School

Master’s Thesis: “A European Perspective on Patent Pools - Promoting Innovation at the Crossroad between Intellectual Property Licensing & Antitrust Law”

Grade: 16 / 18 
Reference Letter, Judge Rader, US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit 

Siemens - Corporate Technology, Licensing and Transactions Department, Munich, Germany

Internship as part of my LL.M.

• Analyzing licensing practices in compliance with antitrust rules
• Developing a research paper on Patent Pools

Reference letter available 

Microsoft - Law and Corporate Affairs, EMEA Headquarters, Paris, France

Policy Analyst

• Monitoring and analyzing current government policies and legal developments across EMEA
• Production of IP-related input for the benefit of Microsoft's regional government affairs team
• Formulating legal opinions for industry trade groups and political bodies, particularly on patent law and open source issues in the software industry

Reference letter available 

European Parliament - Committee on Legal Affairs and Internal Market, Brussels, Belgium

Legal Trainee

• Analyzing current dossiers, such as the proposal for a Directive on the Patentability of Computer-Implemented Inventions
• Drafting reports and opinions on legal and internal market-matters
• Conducting research, mostly using online resources and database (such as Lexis and Westlaw)
• Providing support in formulating legal advice to EP members and officials
• Assisting with the organization of meetings and events

Reference letter available 

Università degli Studi di Torino & Université de Nice-Sophia-Antipolis

Double law degree

Shared study program jointly organized by the Law Universities of Turin and Nice, leading to the award of both final diplomas

Laurea in Giurisprudenza (Italian J.D. degree), Università degli Studi di Torino, Italy

Thesis dissertation on the principle of the Presumption of Innocence against the common practice of the Pre-Trial Detention under French and Italian Law - A comparative perspective

Grade: 104 / 110 

Maîtrise de Droit (French law degree), Université de Nice-Sophia-Antipolis, France

Degree awarded: “avec mention” 

Liceo Linguistico Erasmo da Rotterdam, Turin, Italy

High school leaving certificate awarded with full grade: 60 / 60