About

A dual-qualified lawyer in both Nigeria and England and Wales, Isoken Imohe regards her move to the Middle East, initially with Proserv Middle East in 2012 and thereafter with DNG VL in 2014 as a highly positive move and career highlight. Initially DNV GL’s sole lawyer in a legal department depending entirely on herself, Imohe recalls her construction of the now highly regarded legal function as another main highlight: ‘When I first joined it was an intense challenge to support the five diverse business areas of oil and gas, maritime, business assurance, energy and software (now digital solutions). Over the past five years, the department has grown in number, but more importantly we have created deep relationships with the different business areas, from the leadership team to the consultants ensuring that we have become key business partners to the business. While the complex challenges of working in the diverse jurisdictions of the Middle East remains, we are now well positioned to proactively provide strategic advice to the business as opposed to the typical reactionary firefighting that was the norm five years ago’. In addition to her extremely effective people management, Imohe has championed high-tech solutions for the team to enable it to provide the most cost-effective legal support to the company. ‘One of my proudest achievements has been leading and project managing our smart bidding and contracting initiatives’, she says. ‘Through extensive consultations and review of business data, we recommended and implemented a smart bidding and contracting process that prescribed a three-tier process for bids and contracts based on a subjective assessment of the inherent risk and reward in each contract or opportunity. This assisted the oil and gas division to achieve a better bidding outcome. Through the implementation of the smart bidding initiative, there is a demonstrable shift to a risk and value-based approach to contract handling within our oil and gas division. These efficiency gains have led to the adoption of a similar process by our energy division’.