What are the most significant cases or transactions that your legal team has recently been involved in?

In September last year, Polaris launched its third investment strategy, Polaris Public Equity. It’s a fund structure unlike anything we have done before in Polaris, so the process from startup to launch has been incredibly exciting – and challenging. The fund will make minority investments in Nordic listed small- and midcap companies taking a private equity approach when it comes to analysis and ownership. Combined with our Private Equity strategy and Polaris Flexible Capital, which targets investment opportunities within junior loans and unlisted minority positions, Polaris now offers access to a wide range of investment opportunities beyond the traditional private equity firm.

A lot is happening within the alternative investment space at the moment, and being part of a firm that actively participates in that development is super exciting – also from a legal perspective. The regulation around alternative investment funds and M&A continues to add new complexity for fund managers, and the legal resources required in fund formation and fundraising is ever-increasing with LPAs and side letters growing longer and more complex.

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

The private equity industry is characterised by a fast pace and a lot of processes moving all at once, so the ability to keep calm and prioritise your work is fairly important. A large part of the work as an in-house lawyer is legal project management where you have to manage different stakeholders internally and externally, so being able to navigate in that setting is also crucial. This is especially important in a smaller legal team where external legal resources are used to a greater extent.

Depending on the size of the firm, you can have very specialised positions in large legal departments or small teams or individuals such as myself. If you find yourself pursuing a position in a small team or as the only legal counsel, I would strongly suggest that you have a genuine interest and passion for the commercial side of the business, as your role will be deeply integrated with the business and colleagues with different backgrounds. To succeed in that type of position, I believe it is critical to spend some time and effort to understand the commercial aspects of the company and how a legal resource can support those.