Team size: Six

Can you briefly explain how the legal team is structured, highlighting key individuals and their role within the department?

Camilla Nyhus-Møller (chief legal and compliance Officer – CLCO) is head of the legal and compliance team and member of the group executive team (GET) reporting to the president and CEO. Camilla has overall responsibility for legal, corporate and compliance affairs of the HLNG Group. Camilla helps the company in minimising legal and compliance risks by advising the board, management, and the various departments on legal and regulatory issues such as contract and litigation risks and engages external counsel responsible for developing policies and procedures to ensure the group adheres to good corporate governance.

Veronica B. Sandnes (legal corporate affairs manager) is responsible for establishing and maintaining companies, maintaining the corporate structure of the Group, and preparing corporate structures for specific projects, among others. Veronica also conducts various paralegal tasks such as review of contracts, drafting of intragroup agreements, providing legal and corporate assistance and liaison with flag, class, lenders, or external legal advisors regarding deliveries of vessels, (re-)financings and projects and advising on filing.

Jesile Aquino (legal and compliance assistant) is responsible for L&C’s finance and budget management, global data governance and records management of legal documents and preparing and updating contract overviews and other legal documents. She performs external counsel management by participating in negotiations and monitoring the external legal spending. She also acts as paralegal by reviewing agreements and preparation of legal and transactional documents.

Rachelle Fevie Anne Cano-Ambata (compliance manager) has the responsibility for reviewing compliance of the company’s governing policies through audits, risk assessment projects and developing and performance of business integrity and compliance plans. Rachelle assists the CLCO in developing compliance policies and procedures and performs integrity due diligence of business partners.

In addition, the executive assistant to the president and CEO and the board, Hannah Rothschild is a member of the team.

How do you feel the pandemic has changed the world of work for in-house counsel and the function of the general counsel?

As the pandemic has put risk and contract management at the top of the agenda, the role of the in-house counsel has in many ways elevated from a “check the box” function to being part of the decision-making since assessing risks and giving appropriate advice is at the core of what lawyers are trained to do.

Working remotely has had its positive effects, giving the team more time to focus without the disruptions experienced when working from the office. However, working remotely may also reduce the more impromptu requests for advice and the more informal updates received from colleagues in the office. Hence, it is important that virtual meeting places are established to ensure the legal and compliance teams have the required information.

Camilla Nyhus-Møller
Chief legal and compliance officer
Höegh LNG