About

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 global legal team working closely together across the entire business. Hence, the legal role is evolving to cover not only all of AKSO offerings but also all other business aspects such as project support, new country entries, regulatory matters, local content requirements and general corporate matters. This ensures flexibility, competency as well as challenges and variety for all members of the legal team. With the changing nature of the industry, increasing tender complexity, new market entries and demanding co-operations forms with new partners we see that the legal team is challenged to evolve constantly to ensure commercially sound business advice without compromising on quality and compliance.  

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

First and foremost, you need to know the business inside out and in addition one needs to have the skill to participate and influence strategic business decisions. Moreover, excellent cooperation skills and a pro-active mentality is imperative.

Do you have any effective techniques for getting the most out of external counsel, in terms of how to instruct them?

When obtaining advice from external counsel we have good experience with building long lasting relationships with outside counsel. In this way our advisors always have inside knowledge of the business and related risk. As for specific instructions AKSO has created a standard template questionnaire for obtaining legal opinions on important aspects. The template is customised for each request to ensure clear instructions and correspondingly concise responses. Further, we have one designated employee acting as sole focal point for the relevant external counsel ensuring full overview of worked performed, legal bills and potential cost savings.

Looking forward, what technological advancements do you feel will impact the role of in-house legal teams in the future the most?

We are in a new era of digitalisation which will herald drastic changes in document and e-mail management, hereunder creating an environment adapted for digital business. A correct use of digital technologies and data will surely improve business efficiency, productivity and security and be an important success factor for in-house legal teams going forward.

Thought Piece: ‘New country entries – Challenging for in-house legal and compliance’

New country entries are, and will continue to be, a large part of Aker Solutions business development strategy. This is to ensure continuous growth and to capture new business opportunities. Various scenarios may trigger a new country entry; Aker Solutions strategic direction and capabilities, following our global customers, or specific project opportunities. However, regardless of starting point it is key to have a disciplined process accurately assessing the potential risks related to the specific country entry. Based on extensive experience, Aker Solutions has developed customised internal procedures and checklists for new entries where legal and compliance involvement is required from start to finish to ensure an optimised and correct organisational set up, risk mitigation and enabling of a sound business strategy.

Aker Solutions global activity requires a high compliance and integrity standard. In order to safe guard new country entries, Aker Solutions has developed a risk-based approach where a country risk assessment is required to assess the strategic fit and validate the rationale for a new entry. The goal is to gain a preliminary understanding of the country’s local regulatory environment and its receptiveness to international companies. Topics to be covered fall under the following categories; regulatory, corruption, political, social, environmental, and financial and security.

Establishing a good relationship with local counsel will ensure gaining a comprehensive understanding and overview of the local laws and regulations governing the new market. This is key for the analysis and establishment of an applicable corporate structure.

Moreover, the regulatory roadmap can be particularly challenging in immature oil and gas markets with few or no established producers, unchartered regulatory environment, unclear legislative framework and lack of predictability with no independent judiciary system. In these situations, advice from local counsel is imperative to ensure a proper risk assessment and mitigation measures. Engaging with relevant national authorities to obtain guidance is also important. Depending on the countries, markets and involved stakeholders, specific compliance challenges may add to the complexity of the risk analysis. We see that corruption, political climate, influence and instability, as well as international trade sanctions take up a continuously increased effort from our legal and compliance resources.

All of the above are operational risks that need to be properly assessed and analysed in connection with establishment in new countries. This to understand the risk framework and to manage and follow up implementation of mitigation actions. Knowledge is everything, and although proper due diligence processes are costly and require both time, resources and external advisors, such processes are fundamental to ensure compliance with local law and regulation and understanding of the business in the country. Management buy-in is critical and the complexity and relevance of a proper risk assessment should not be underestimated as the above, if not properly addressed, can create massive pitfalls, including serious reputational risk and gigantic economic losses.

This risk based approach will first be put to the test when operational in the new country. Hence, all analysis and investigations must be captured in a written and traceable manner. Further, awareness campaigns and training of own personnel, contractors and partners must be implemented highlighting items of particular importance for the new country set up. Practical guidelines should also be developed, and requirements to revert for renewed assessment if parameters change should also be established. Moreover, consistent follow up of regulatory developments and changes in the political climate, as well as follow up of local partners, new corporate entities and required licenses are important to ensure continued compliance and security.

Aker Solutions normally dedicate a legal responsible for each region in order to ensure a clear focal point for legal and compliance related issues. The legally responsible will also ensure that contractual mitigation actions are implemented as required. For instance, representations from client, subcontractors and partners relating to compliance (hereunder integrity and sanctions), contractual right to suspension, change orders and termination as well as commercial risk allocation will all be considered.