Carolin van Straelen is Associate Director and Head of W&I DACH at VALE Insurance Partners. She is based in Munich and advises private equity sponsors, corporates and their advisers on transactional risk insurance solutions across Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

Carolin has over 15 years of experience in M&A and transactional risk. She began her career as a corporate and M&A lawyer at Gleiss Lutz in 2011, where she advised on domestic and cross-border transactions across a broad range of industries. In 2016, she joined German M&A boutique GLNS as Counsel, continuing to advise strategic and financial investors on complex acquisitions, disposals and corporate restructurings.

In 2019, Carolin transitioned to the insurance market, joining AIG as Senior Underwriter, M&A. During her time at AIG, she underwrote a wide variety of warranty and indemnity insurance transactions and worked with leading private equity funds, corporates and advisers throughout the DACH region. In November 2025, she was appointed Practice Lead for DACH.