SINCE 2008, KATJA TAUTSCHER HAS SERVED AS GENERAL COUNSEL for Borealis, a leading provider of innovative solutions in the fields of polyolefins, base chemicals and fertilizers. On top of heading the legal department, she became the head of its procurement organization in 2014. "I like the fact that I'm so close to the business, can actively contribute to and shape Borealis' future, and I'm really where the action is happening," Tautscher says.

With its head office in Vienna, Austria, the company currently has about 6,600 employees and operates in more than 120 countries, she says. Mubadala, through its holding company, owns 64 percent of the company, and the rest is owned by Austria-based OMV, an integrated, international oil and gas company.

Tautscher says Borealis provides its products and services to customers around the world, in collaboration with Borouge, a joint venture with the Abu Dhabi National Oil Co.

LEGAL TEAM: According to Tautscher, the Borealis legal team consists of 25 people, including 16 lawyers. Team members are located in Finland, Sweden, Belgium, France and Austria. Also in her department, Tautscher says, are two lawyers working as compliance officers, two chemists working as patent counsel and two insurance specialists.

OUTSIDE COUNSEL: "Due to our worldwide activities, we have a wide panel of law firms to whom we turn," Tautscher says.

She says the company's outside counsel range from London's Magic Circle firms for high-stakes litigation or sizeable mergers and acquisitions to niche firms for niche issues.

DAILY DUTIES: Her daily duties include making sure that the legal team adds value to the business, thereby properly protecting the company and its senior management. Tautscher says that she is on various steering committees as well as on boards of subsidiaries and joint ventures.

ROUTE TO THE TOP: After graduating from the University of Vienna Law School in 1995, Tautscher joined a small boutique law firm in Vienna as a junior associate. In 1998, Tautscher went to the London School of Economics, graduating in 1999 with a LL.M. in international business law. She then spent about a year working at the Clifford Chance law firm in Germany.

In 2000, Tautscher returned to Austria to join Wolf Theiss, becoming a partner in the firm in 2002 after passing the bar exam with distinction, she says. Wolf Theiss loaned Tautscher to Allen & Overy in London, where she worked for one year and became a solicitor in England and Wales. Tautscher moved to Slovenia in 2006 to head the local office of Wolf Theiss.

Tautscher went in-house in 2007, becoming an assistant general counsel for Scientific Games Inc., a Nasdaq-listed company headquartered in New York. Her next move came in 2008, when she joined Borealis.

PERSONAL: Tautscher, 45, lives with her partner, Simon, and is the mother of a 5-year-old boy, Pauli. "When I am not working, I love spending time with my son … because he is the biggest gift I have received," Tautscher says. "My partner, Pauli and I love skiing and enjoying islands of Greece in summer."

LAST BOOK READ: The last books Tautscher read were "Winning From Within" by negotiation expert Erica Ariel Fox and "The Pelican Brief" by John Grisham.

WHAT KEEPS HER UP AT NIGHT: Tautscher says she worries about how to efficiently support her company's growth initiatives with the current resources.

PRIORITIES: Her priority is to ensure that her company's management receives adequate, practical and nimble advice that is easily understandable.

NOTES TAUTSCHER: "I try to ensure that all my team members are not only up to date in legal matters but also understand the business and our strategy well enough to be able to provide solid legal solutions that are of value. What I mean by that is that the business partners a) need to understand what the lawyers say and b) need to be able to work with it and thus buy into it."