About

Wärtsilä is a global manufacturer and service provider of power sources in the marine and energy markets. Tim Williams was promoted to area counsel for the Middle East and Asia in August 2015, after eight years as corporate counsel for the company. As corporate counsel he managed a multilingual team of four in Houston and Rio de Janeiro, from his base in Helsinki. Despite the logistics of this arrangement, Williams has embedded a ‘truly collegial atmosphere’ in the department. He says ‘if a colleague in the legal function calls with an urgent request for support – anything from a point of law to a brainstorming session on a project structure – then our duty is to assist and support so that our business colleagues get the best possible advice combined with solid, actionable advice and pragmatic solutions’. Williams and his team were required to help structure, negotiate and close deals all over the world. One of his biggest achievements was closing the project financing for Wärtsilä’s biggest project ever, a near EUR 200 million order from Brazil. Williams’ personal philosophy is that counsel should not be content with being ‘close to the business’, but should ensure they are actually part of the business. He continues by saying ‘the individual lawyers in the legal function are always integral members of the cross-functional teams responsible for securing the business on a project by project basis’.