About

In what ways do you see the in-house legal role evolving in your region over the next few years?

The in-house legal role is becoming more and more important in most companies. It used to be more common to rely on external counsel, but more and more companies are building or expanding legal departments. We are drawn more into the business, especially when it comes to risk management. Society is becoming more regulated and the legal environment and license to operate is becoming more complex. There is a need for legal assistance earlier in all types of projects and if you have the right legal staff, legal will function both as a business partner and as a gatekeeper for the management and the board. I believe that this trend will continue over the next years.

What would you say are the unique qualities required to be successful as an in-house lawyer in your industry?

In order to succeed as a lawyer in the banking industry, you need, of course, to have detailed knowledge of the many laws and regulations applicable to the heavily regulated industry. But in order to be unique, you need to be able to balance being a business partner as well as being a gatekeeper. It is difficult to be fully compliant with all regulations in such a regulated industry when you are trying to create business. Many times you need to advise on whether to choose between two bad fallouts, one business wise and one compliance wise.  

Do you have any effective techniques for getting the most out of external counsel, in terms of how to instruct them?

We use a lot of external counsel, but mainly from two law firms. As we know each other well, we have become accustomed to each other and they have a good insight on how we operate and need. I think that limiting the number of law firms you use is step one in getting the most out of external counsel. It is also worth investing time in explaining what type of advice you are after in each case, why you are asking for it and what you are going to use it for. It is very different what you need when you are double checking something that you as a lawyer are in doubt on (usually short and to the point), when you need a memo you want to send directly to the business for them to follow up (usually plain language and explanatory) and when you need to ensure that the board will not be liable for breach of regulations (usually longer and use of more legal language).

Have any new laws, regulations or judicial decisions greatly impacted your company’s business or your legal practice?

The banking industry is going through a tsunami of regulations at the moment and all departments are looking to the legal team for assistance in understanding and implementing them. Legal is becoming more important for the Board as they are subject to more and more potential liability.

What in your diverse professional experience do you think prepared you most for your current general counsel role?

I have a very diverse background from different sectors (public, in-house and external counsel) and I think that it is the combination of them that makes me who I am today. But what stands out is my period in Aker Solutions where I worked a lot with weighing all kinds of risks in projects or business areas. It actually made me very business oriented, focusing on how to execute projects with a solid financial outcome with a proper risk profile. It also made me focus on the bigger picture while at the same time always having an eye for detail.

What can law firms do to improve their services to the legal department?

I think that law firms need to train their employees more on how to give legal advice (not only the content of the advice) and how to treat their clients. There is a big difference in having a client that is a lawyer and a client with no legal training. Too many times lawyers just write an opinion on something without thinking about why the client has asked for the advice and what he is going to use it for. They should also consider using the same associates on the same clients so that the associates learns how each client needs and likes it. And they should regularly ask the client how he/she considers the cooperation and what they can do to improve.

Thought Piece: Tsunami of regulations

One of the biggest challenges for the banking industry these days is the tsunami of regulations that are hitting us, the legal techniques that are being used and how the regulators are going to follow up on all of them. EBA (European Banking Association) guidelines are taken into Norwegian law by reference only, usually consisting of hundreds of pages, many of which are not relevant for Norway. They are in English and a result of compromises between all EU countries. The FSA have a duty to supervise that guidelines are being followed, but many times, they do not even understand how to interpret them.

It is also a legislative problem as the Norwegian government and the FSA has limited possibility to fine tune the legislation so that it fits into the Norwegian system and conditions. Flexibility is particularly important when it comes to consumer protection, due to the fact that there is such a big difference between the EU countries.

It is impossible for lawyers in the banks and in the FSA to keep up with everything that is coming from the EU and there is limited possibility for impacting how regulations are going to turn out. It results in unpredictability and cost inefficiency for the banks, information overload for the customers and a long backlog in the FSA. At the same time, new EU regulations like PSD2 are opening up for new players in the financial industry who are not subject to the same regulatory overload. It will be very interesting to see how this new dynamic will impact the banking industry going forward.”