About

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 managers, answering purely what is within or over the legal line, to also advise the company about issues that could damage the reputation and/or business culture, even if it may be within the law will continue. I also think that the in-house legal role will develop more into business advisers, in that our strategic and professional education will be used also to contribute to the company’s bottom line, by helping the senior management secure favourable business outcomes. Given the traditional industries of Norway, oil and gas, fish and metal, I think that Norway may be falling behind several of the leading countries in both these two regards. 

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

To be able to have a very holistic view of law, business, cultural differences, finance, how all this interacts, and how you use this to navigate towards the goal of reducing risk and uncertainty and thereby increasing the bottom line and shareholder value. To be able to think of innovative solutions, to be able to overcome, or at least bridge the gap for, issues that come up in the intersection of law, business, culture and finance, so that the company does not get bogged down, but can maintain its momentum. For the consumer electronics industry, where more or less all business is done in the US, EU, China, Japan and Korea it is also very important to be humble and respectful of cultural differences. Multinational relations must be nurtured and maintained in order to continue to successfully sell or license the company’s technology and to keep such co-operations going without legal and business hick-ups.  One day we are dealing with the huge US legal department of a world leading chip manufacturer, and the next day with a single legal advisor of a Chinese factory in broken English. Both need to be handled with the same care.

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

I do not have any “magic solutions” for this. Keeping legal budgets manageable and without expensive surprises is very difficult, especially when you are in such a challenging business or position as ours. Needless to say, with 20 years of in-house experience I have developed a huge global legal network. If I don’t already know which external counsel that would be the best candidate, I most likely know someone who can give me the best recommendation for such person or firm.  When we consider our external counsel, we look for those that we can trust, who are active and creative and who show an interest and knowledge in our industry and technology. Since it takes a lot of time to get a new external counsel up to date on our business, our technology and on our legal issues, we look for long term relationships. It takes a long time and money to get up to date, to be able to provide us with valuable advice. Of course, it is also important to be to the point and to give the external counsel all the relevant information needed to provide his or her advice.  

Have any new laws, regulations or judicial decisions greatly impacted your company’s business or your legal practice?

Not really.  No major global developments on the technology licensing area that have had any impact on us (we are based in Norway, with 99% of our business outside).  What we do have concerns about is what consequences the “trade war” Donald Trump has waged against China will have.  A large majority of consumer electronics products and accessories are manufactured in China, and the tariffs will have a big impact on sourcing of products.  Most likely, this will not have much impact on Freebit, as the companies/licensees will remain the same, although they may source and manufacture in other countries than China, such as Vietnam and the Philippines.  

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

No doubt technological advancements in the legal field have made it possible to put less resources in low value tasks.  For us this means less resources into keeping track of fees paid to external counsel, keeping track of license agreements and royalty payments, making it easier to file patents, designs and trademarks, thereby giving us more time to focus on more important or valuable tasks.  It may also delay recruiting junior lawyers. Other than that, we do not see any technological advancements that the legal work that our business relies upon will have any major impact.    

What can law firms do to improve their services to the legal department?

They can show an interest in our company and our business and technology, and that they are willing to learn more at their own expense. For example, by attending meetings with us at no charge. This creates trust, and we know that the law firm are in it for the longer term. Given our global business, and since we have no way of keeping up to date in all jurisdictions, I appreciate law firms that provide information about important local case law and changes in legislation and implement cloud or web based
technology giving 24/7 access to case files. 

Do you have anything additional you would like to add?

Freebit is something of a rarity as a Norwegian technology licensing company active in the consumer electronics industry, with customers and partners such as JBL, Skullcandy, Qualcomm, SoftBank, Moto, and several Chinese companies. Freebit is currently made up of five employees. The Hollywood actor Dwayne Johnson recently launched his Project Rock True Wireless in-earphones using Freebit technology, under his cooperation with Under Armour and in partnership with JBL. It is not every day that a small Norwegian company is involved in this type of project.