About

Rather than having a large legal department with all company lawyers located together, government-owned railway company business NSB has a model where two lawyers are employed by the division of the organisation that they are assisting, with five lawyers in total. Otto Sivertsen Roheim is the general counsel of NSB, and brings a wealth of leadership qualities and expertise to the role, having a depth of knowledge in areas such as contract law, negotiation and dispute resolutions, transportation law, employment law, public law, environmental law, company law and competition law. Another team member identified for his skill is Lars Borchgrevink Grindal, who works on contracts, procurement law, negotiation and dispute resolutions, privacy law and intellectual property law and competition law. He provides legal advice to group procurement as well as other parts of the group, including the IT department, Nettbuss, CargoNet, and Tågkompaniet. Signe Hovbrender is a contract advisor in the commercial unit, and acts as the head contact between the Railway Directorate and NSB. She is a member of the NSB negotiation team and works with contracts regarding other railway services, sales and ticketing cooperations, as well as other fields of law like public law and transportation law. Wiebe van Meenen is procurement advisor in group procurement and provides legal and procedural support in procurement processes, including advising on applicable rules and strategic choices, drafting contracts and tender documents as well as handling relations with tenderers, including post-award complaints. Sverre McSeveny-Åril has recently been recruited to the team to strengthen its capacity on travel law, data protection and marketing law. As data protection officer (DPO) his main responsibility is the follow-up of NSB’s work and strategic matters in commercial sales. Through this move to general counsel management, as well as through additional recruitment, the in-house legal capability of NSB has been strengthened in a number of important areas preparing the team to meet new demands and business strategic commitments. The in-house team is well prepared to give optimal support to the organisation on most cases and is able to draw on its close network of legal contacts, allowing the organisation
to benefit from the team’s cooperation with external lawyers. Some of the most significant cases for the team
have been connected to the reform of the Norwegian railway sector, the establishment of the rolling stock company – Norske Tog – and the ticket sales and service company, Entur. The team was ‘comprehensively involved in the successful execution of the latter project’, says Roheim. NSB has also recently entered into a new negotiated public service contract for railway passenger services with the Railway Directorate, for a period of five years. Under this reform, the Norwegian Railway Directorate will gradually put the railway passenger services out to tender in six to eight packages. The legal team, under the management of Roheim, had to overcome the challenge of a complex regulatory landscape in the Norwegian railway sector, seeking solutions which combine both NSB’s social role as a provider of transportation service with the requirements of a commercially run operation. Roheim identifies that his team is focused on ‘providing the best possible legal advice through dialogue, availability and carefully listening to the organisation.’