About

Lars Jacobsen assumed his position as general counsel at Aker BioMarine AS, a Norwegian fishing and biotech company in March 2017, and has since taken on a systematic approach to compliance and legal issues by benchmarking towards competitors and industry peers. Jacobsen has established routines for contract vetting and archiving and implemented cost cutting initiatives through solving more legal issues internally. Jacobsen has also sought to simplify in order to convey a unified message across the Group of over 250 people ranging from top management to fishermen. Prior to this role Jacobsen served as corporate legal counsel for Wilh. Wilhelmsen Holding (WWH) between 2014 and 16 where he was the lead M&A lawyer on all transactions and also led the Group’s legal IP matters. When discussing his most recognised achievements, Jacobsen mentions leading the sell-side deal from WWH corporate legal where they spun off the WWH safety business to the Survitec Group. Since the safety business was deeply integrated across the whole group in over 40 locations and jurisdictions. ‘This project was a true test of project management and heavy negotiating rounds’. The close co-operation between the parties before, during and after the deal also meant balancing different interest towards reaching a good result all parties could live with. Working so internationally and advising across so many jurisdictions was ‘very rewarding and gave a unique insight into different cultures’. Jacobsen explains that ‘although you hear a lot about being aware of local cultures you do business in, I found that business often speaks its own language’.