Dr. Arne Burmester, EMBA (M&A)

Arne Burmester has been leading the Smart Operations, Legal Tech and AI divisions at the German offices of the international commercial law firm CMS since 1 July 2026. Dr Arne Burmester, who has already been in charge of Smart Operations – a team of experienced commercial lawyers and legal project managers – since 2022, is taking on this responsibility in his new role as Chief Solutions Officer. In this capacity, he will also serve as a member of the AI Board.

Thanks to his many years' experience at CMS, complemented by several years' in-house practice, Arne Burmester possesses particular expertise as project lead, in operational excellence and in people and project management. The joint management of the Smart Operations, Legal Tech and AI divisions is aimed at driving strategic development and the direct integration of operational know-how with legal tech/AI excellence as the foundation for the highly specialised, AI-based client work of the present and future.

Arne Burmester began his legal career in 2007 at CMS in the Corporate/M&A practice and the firm appointed him Counsel in 2015. From 2015 to 2020, he served as in-house counsel (Associate, General Counsel) for an international energy company before returning to CMS as Senior Counsel in 2020. In 2023, the firm appointed him Principal Counsel.