About

Fugro is a Dutch multinational that provides geotechnical, survey, subsea, and geoscience services – typically for clients in the oil and gas, telecommunications, and infrastructure sector. Overseeing the legal matters for the European division of Fugro is Oslo-based Fredrik Haavind, who as head of legal Europe reports directly to overall general counsel Annabelle Vos in the Netherlands. In his role Haavind manages six legal and 12 non-legal staff that are responsible for the security of the company even during a challenging time for service providers in the oil and gas market. When Haavind joined Fugro in 2011, he began a reorganisation and integration process that would see the legal team become more “at one” with their business peers. He believes that now the ‘better structure of the legal function has given the company the benefit of broader legal coverage and more focused legal advice’. This is unsurprising when you consider that throughout his career Haavind has thrived when faced with a challenge. As he says himself: ‘[Career] highlights worth mentioning are periods where I’ve been forced out of my comfort zone which have resulted in steep learning curves… For the last 10 years I’ve been working in cyclical businesses. First in the shipping industry when the financial crisis hit in 2008, and second in the oil and gas services industry when the oil crisis hit in 2015. For me as a lawyer these market changes have been valuable experiences in how the shifting markets may also change the dynamics in contract enforcement, and how many legal issues become more important when markets are tough’. It is by using this incredibly pragmatic approach that Haavind has been able to excel, and achieve impressive results despite market challenges. Before joining Fugro, Haavind gained experience in-house with Eitzen Chemical, Camillo Eitzen & Co and Det Norske Veritas. He has also held roles as a judge at Kristiansand District Court and as an associate at law firm Arntzen de Besche.