Norway 2019 – GC Powerlist
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Norway 2019

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Anne-Ma Tostrup Smith

Tax Director | Equinor ASA

Arild Støren Frick

General counsel | Aker ASA

Bjørn Gisle Grønlie

Legal Director Legal Operations UK, Norway and Russia & Equinor Legal KAM | TechnipFMC

In the words of a nominator… ‘He is the leader of the global legal key account contract expert network in TechnipFMC consisting of 16 lawyers situated throughout the world. In...

Brage Høidahl

Head of legal | Mantena

Camilla Berg

General counsel | Nord Pool

What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years? With effect from October 2018, Nord Pool completed an extensive group-internal...

Camilla Nyhus Moller

Senior Vice President Legal & Compliance | Höegh LNG

Do you have any effective techniques for getting the most out of external counsel, in terms of how to instruct them? Höegh LNG is committed to continuously improve the way...

Carine Lindman-Johannesen

Head of legal and compliance | Santander Consumer Bank

In what ways do you see the in-house legal role evolving in your region over the next few years? The in-house legal role is becoming more and more important in...

Christian Schumacher

Senior legal counsel / advokat M.N.A (lawyer) | SAS

What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years? I have worked on the following: negotiated, mitigated and finally settled...

Christina Wiggen

Group general counsel | Sporveien Oslo

What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years? The biggest project at Sporveien for the time being is the...

Daniel Jilkén

General Counsel | Solør Bioenergi Holding AB

What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years? Solør Bioenergy Group is a northern European energy company. In 2003...

Daniel Lindebjerg Haaland

Vice president and general counsel | Norsk Hydro

What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years? The most important transaction I have been involved in lately was...

Elisabet Grohshennig

Vice president and deputy general counsel | Aker Solutions

In what ways do you see the in-house legal role evolving in your region over the next few years? Within AKSO we are consistently working to ensure one integrated and...

Elisabeth Wiggen

Chief competition counsel | Equinor ASA

What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years? I have not been involved in litigations the last two years,...

Erik Skotland

General counsel | Avinor

Fredrick Holm-Hansen

Group Legal Counsel/ Corporate Secretary | Avinor

In what ways do you see the in-house legal role evolving in your region over the next few years? In my opinion the in-house legal role will have to be...

Fredrik Haavind

Head of legal and compliance | Fugro

Geir Dyngeland

Head of legal | Telenor

Greta Kelwing Haugberg

General Counsel | Powel

In what ways do you see the in-house legal role evolving in your region over the next few years? Trondheim hosts Norway’s university of technology and natural science (NTNU) and...

Hans Olav Holmen

Head of legal and managing counsel | Norske Shell

In what ways do you see the in-house legal role evolving in your region over the next few years? Norske Shell is present in four locations; Kristiansund, Aukra, Oslo and...

Harald Grydeland  Sulejewski

Group Legal Counsel | B2Holding

In what ways do you see the in-house legal role evolving in your region over the next few years? I believe the role of in-house lawyers will become more important...

Helge Lundestad

General counsel | Handelsbanken

In what ways do you see the in-house legal role evolving in your region over the next few years? I see a trend where in-house-legal functions will involve themselves even...

Ingvill Mari Saunes

Group general counsel | Ulstein Group

What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years? Over the last two years, I have been involved in and...

Iren Marugg

General counsel | Norske Tog

What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years? I started working at Norske tog (NT) in January 2018. From...

Johan (Woo) Kvandal

General counsel | Forsvarsmateriell (Norwegian Defence Materiel Agency)

In what ways do you see the in-house legal role evolving in your region over the next few years? The size and role of an in-house team can vary widely....

Kjell Clement Ludvigsen

General Counsel | Nortura SA

Knut B. Kjøsnes

Legal director | Coop Norge

In what ways do you see the in-house legal role evolving in your region over the next few years? The in-house lawyer must constantly demonstrate value for the company and...

Kristin Schjødt Bitnes

Head of Legal & Compliance and Board Secretary | Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics

In what ways do you see the in-house legal role evolving in your region over the next few years? The in-house legal role has undergone a huge change over the...

Lars Henie

SVP - Head of group tax | Statkraft - Group Tax

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

Lars Jacobsen

General counsel | Aker BioMarine

In what ways do you see the in-house legal role evolving in your region over the next few years? I see the in-house legal role evolving in a number of...

Lars Mysen

General counsel | Petroleum Geo-Services

What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years? During the recent years, we have been involved in several cross-jurisdictional...

Linda Dragvoll

Counsel | Avinor

In what ways do you see the in-house legal role evolving in your region over the next few years? Both leaders and different non-legal specialists are increasingly aware of the...

Maria Hempel

General counsel and chief compliance officer | Höegh Autoliners

In what ways do you see the in-house legal role evolving in your region over the next few years? Over the past years, there have been numerous cases in our...

Marianne Frydenlund 

Legal Director | Nordic Semiconductor

What would you say are the unique qualities required to be successful as an in-house lawyer in your industry? Regardless of what you are selling or buying, the scope of...

Marianne Raa Bjaaland

Head of Legal | Boligbyggelaget Usbl

In what ways do you see the in-house legal role evolving in your region over the next few years? I expect an increase in the number of in-house lawyers in...

Martin Ekelund

Vice President Legal | Freebit

In what ways do you see the in-house legal role evolving in your region over the next few years? I think that the development from being purely compliance-risk and legal...

Matthias Geiger

General counsel, Norway and Denmark | Siemens

Nina Melandsø

General counsel | TINE

What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years? We assist the top management regularly and are thus involved in...

Ole Garborg Garborg

General counsel | Elkem ASA

In what ways do you see the in-house legal role evolving in your region over the next few years? It seems that more and more companies have learned to appreciate...

Otto Sivertsen Roheim

General counsel | NSB Gjøvikbanen

What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years? The most important transactions I have been involved in during the...

Øyvind Greaker Bjørndal

Chief Legal Counsel | Electromagnetic Geoservices

What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years? The most important transaction I have been involved with during this...

Per Anders Vaagenes

General counsel | CGI Norge

What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years? In the last three years, I have been through two successful...

Peter Lenda

General counsel Scandenavia | Sopra Steria

What would you say are the unique qualities required to be successful as an in-house lawyer in your industry? There are many qualities that are required to be a better...

Snorre Valdimarsson

Executive vice president and general counsel | Scatec

In what ways do you see the in-house legal role evolving over the next few years? Firstly, in-house teams are expanding, and this is not merely an effort to reduce...

Stein Ove Erdal

Vice president legal and general counsel | Nel ASA

Thomas Rygg Hannestad

Head of Legal Department | Swedbank Norge

What would you say are the unique qualities required to be successful as an in-house lawyer in your industry? The key element to be a successful in house lawyer is...

Tommy Album Rørvik

Head of Legal | Axactor Norway

Note: Rørvik moved from BASF to Axactor Norway in August 2019. What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years?...

Tor Olav Carlsen

Head of legal | Arbeidsgiverforeningen Spekter

What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years? One important transaction that I have been involved with as group...

Tore Sande

Head of legal | Hafslund

Tore Ulleberg

Managing counsel | ConocoPhillips Norge

How would you advise in-house legal departments in the oil and gas sector to cope with the industry’s changes in the last five years? Over the last five years, the...

Vilde Aas Jakobsen

General counsel | Siemens Mobility AS

In what ways do you see the in-house legal role evolving in your region over the next few years? As the digital evolution will release the legal departments from a...

Since first being published as The Corporate Counsel 100, The Legal 500’s GC Powerlist series has grown exponentially since its beginnings in 2013. It started by covering four of the world’s most established legal markets, and whilst the core objective of the publication – highlighting the most capable, outstanding and innovative in-house counsel in a jurisdiction – has remained the same, the reach and scope of the GC Powerlist has since become almost unrecognisable. Now present in a vast array of jurisdictions and with a portfolio of 70 unique editions, the GC Powerlist series has gone from strength to strength and has firmly been established as the “go-to” title that assesses and features leading corporate counsel across the globe.

Not content to rest on our laurels, we at The Legal 500 are evolving the GC Powerlist series even further, deepening our commitment to ensuring not only the widest geographical coverage, but to highlight and explore issues and challenges at the forefront of the minds of leading in-house lawyers. Therefore, this and future editions of the GC Powerlist will have a very different look to their predecessors. Instead of profiling individual counsel or in-house legal teams, more incisive insights from in-house thought leaders on the topics of the day will be featured extensively throughout our new look GC Powerlist publications.

This new look entails the publication of Q&A transcripts regarding legal and business challenges, comment pieces on specific industry or regulatory affairs, more detailed analysis as to where the market is heading and content related to soft-skills, work ethic and business relationships that general counsel utilise. This new format will not only provide more thought leadership and insight, but provide more clarity on what is driving legal business forward in each market that we cover.

In the GC Powerlist: Norway 2019, we showcase the considerable strength of the in-house legal market in Norway. Having previously covered Norway as part of the wider region, we have, for the last two years, covered the jurisdiction individually due to its abundance of in-house legal talent.

This edition showcases a broad scope of experience and insight covering themes such as the lasting impact of the 2015 oil and gas market crash, legal technology, and increasing financial regulations. It identifies the growing importance of in-house legal management within the context of savings and efficiency, legislative changes including public procurement act, NIS Directive and Security Law, as well as, higher expectations of external counsel in all areas including the type and quality of advice, the end of the billable hour, diversity and inclusion and cost effectivity measurements. I would like to extend my congratulations to all of this year’s inclusions and give a thank you to all of the in-house counsel that contributed.

Peter Tweedley
Senior Research Analyst
The In-house Legal Research Team

Arntzen de Besche

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GC Powerlist: China 2024

We are delighted to launch our first China GC Powerlist since the pandemic. It has been far too long since we could celebrate the best in-house lawyers in this remarkable country, but it has certainly been worth the wait. We thoroughly enjoyed researching this edition and are immensely grateful to the many lawyers and GCs who supported us over the past few months to bring this publication to fruition. The launch event was a huge success, with over 120 key legal professionals who make up the elite of the Chinese legal scene attending to hear speeches from leading partners at sponsor firm Tian Yuan and the in-house lawyers who made it on to this exclusive list.

In particular, the excellent team at Tian Yuan Law Firm played a pivotal role in providing insights into key market changes and introducing some of the most innovative GCs for consideration in this publication.

As expected for legal and business leaders in such a powerhouse economy, we had an abundance of outstanding candidates to choose from. Narrowing it down to the final 100 names was no easy task. Congratulations to everyone included—earning a place on this prestigious list was a significant achievement.