Focus on: My legal team

Over the last decade, BMS Heavy Cranes has been providing engineered solutions to heavy lifting challenges on a global scale. With a unique network of specialists within our field, BMS Heavy Cranes has developed into one of the world’s leading heavy lifting companies. While our headquarters are located in Noerresundby, Denmark, we operate worldwide and are involved in projects in most parts of the world. We take part in projects both on- and offshore, spanning various industries, and are constantly seeking to expand across different industries and sectors.

From a legal perspective, the in-house team at BMS Heavy Cranes operates within a wide variety of legal topics, including contracts, compliance, insurance, corporate matters, HR, and global mobility. The chief legal and HR officer is responsible for overseeing the legal team and ensuring that all the company’s legal aspects are managed effectively.

Over the last couple of years, we have experienced firsthand the increased focus on climate and sustainability, both internally and from our customers. This has naturally necessitated an increased focus on these topics. It is a core value of our company that we are always seeking to increase our sustainability in everything we do. This commitment transfers into the tasks of the legal team, where there is a need for updated policies and alignment with requirements and international standards.

As one of the global leaders in our industry, we are highly dependent on a strong contractual foundation for our projects. It is also important to ensure that the wide range of ongoing contracts is managed in a legally sound and efficient manner. These tasks are handled by our in-house team, which maintains strong internal relationships with our project and sales departments to ensure alignment between practical and legal matters. Additionally, to ensure that we have the necessary resources to execute our projects, the legal team covers topics related to employing, deploying, or relocating employees globally, both white- and blue-collar, as well as compliance and tax-related matters associated with these activities. It should therefore be noted that the essence of a well-functioning and value-adding in-house legal team in a project organisation lies in its ability to ensure that the legal team is integrated into the projects and not seen as an external entity within the company.

Like many other in-house legal teams, we have been experiencing the consequences of both COVID-19 and the Ukraine crisis over the last few years. This has indeed entailed the need to address unforeseen factors that may impact a company when operating on a global scale. From a legal perspective, it has become increasingly important to highlight and assess unforeseen factors contractually during the negotiation of contracts and to ensure that mitigation measures are in place in the event that something unexpected occurs.