About

Responsible for significantly improving the legal function at Spectrum, Svein Staalen has worked closely with the business as part of the executive management in order to foster a more tailored commercial approach within the legal department. Spectrum is a global provider of seismic surveys and seismic data processing to the global oil and gas industry in Norway, the UK, the US, Australia, China, Egypt, Brazil and Singapore. Operating in this sector has proved challenging following the collapse in the oil price in recent years. Staalen has helped the business stay abreast of this change from a legal perspective, admitting that ‘it has forced us to find new commercial models for our business’. Prior to joining Spectrum, Staalen was corporate legal counsel for Det Norske Veritas (DNV). Earlier in his career he spent eight years at the law firm Haavind and had a two year spell as an in-house lawyer in pharmaceutical company Nycomed Group. Staalen is the first to admit that when he started at Spectrum in 2012 his position was very new and he had to help form it in many ways – although it did take some time, he believes that he found a good balance in providing assistance to the regions as well as to the headquarters. Continually adding value to the Spectrum business, Staalen has initiated a project that has generated several million dollars in revenue, all the while working closely with and learning from accomplished colleagues, managers and external counsels. At the start of his legal career, he attained his Masters of Law degree from the University of Oslo and a Diploma in English Commercial Law from the College of Law, London which included a secondment in BT’s legal department.