About

The corporate legal team in Odfjell Drilling consists of one lawyer and one legal counsel, with a new addition scheduled for September 2018 when senior legal counsel Øyvind Skarveland is set to join the team. The team is currently led by Cecilie Isdahl Gjelsvik, general counsel, attorney-at-law, and leads a team that, due to its compact size, works closely together as a unit. Certain tasks and responsibilities are mainly handled by one individual; for example, the general counsel acts as counsel to the executive management group while legal counsel, Lise Holck Rognaldsen who previously worked as contract manager for the group’s well services division, has taken on the main responsibility for assistance to this division. Gjelsvik identifies that the team’s philosophy is as follows: ‘All members shall be able to assist all divisions and support functions in the group, thus creating flexibility, the possibility to utilise capacity where needed and a varied workday. We believe this is a benefit both for our clients, who will always be able to get assistance from one of the team members, and for us as team members as it facilitates professional development and learning. In addition it benefits lessons-learned across the group’s divisions in the way that dividing responsibility for the group’s divisions between the team members would not’. Odfjell Drilling’s corporate legal department also cooperates closely with contract resources in other parts of the group, in particular within business development, and with the operational management in each division. Recently, the legal team has been busy with the acquisition of Deepsea Nordkapp, a semi-submersible drilling unit to be delivered in 2018. Additionally, it has been working on a share capital increase through a private placement with subsequent offering to existing shareholders and investment by Akastor, negotiation of an alliance agreement with Aker BP, and the negotiation of a frame agreement with Equinor. The goal of the team is to contribute to value-adding for the group through a pro-active approach and by combining high legal standards with commercial and operational knowledge. This is developed through close cooperation within the team, which allows it to discuss cases and learn from one another, and with other support functions and the divisions through participation in weekly meetings and daily dialogue.