General counsel | Preem
General counsel of the largest fuel company in Sweden, Anders Eriksson joined Preem in January 2018. He arrived having joined from Ericsson, where he served as vice president and regional...
General counsel - Nordic and the Baltic countries | Siemens
With a region-wide responsibility at one of the world’s most high profile conglomerates, Andreas Lüning takes charge of Siemens legal operations in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland as well as the...
Senior legal counsel | Boehringer Ingelheim Italia
As senior legal counsel within the SAS Group, Anna Almén provides legal advice and risk assessment, balancing commercial interests and potential legal risk. She has a large amount of experience...
General counsel | Novamedia Sverige
Since 2012, Anna Bülow Zetterberg has been general counsel of Novamedia Sverige, a leading media and publishing company based in Sweden with a large European reach. It specialises in charity...
General counsel, head of the legal and public and regulatory affairs team | Telenor Sweden
Anna Byström, general counsel and head of the legal, public and regulatory affairs team at Telenor Sweden, began her legal career as a trainee at Baker & McKenzie, before working...
General counsel and director of legal and sustainability | Apoteket
Anna Rogmark is an experienced general counsel with a demonstrated history of working in the pharmaceuticals industry. She is extremely skilled in legal and business issues related to drug delivery,...
Senior vice president, general counsel and secretary to the board of directors | Vattenfall
Since 2012, Anne Gynnerstedt has been the senior vice president, general counsel and secretary to the board of directors at Vattenfall, bringing her experience from Saab, SAS and the Swedish...
Senior vice president and head of group legal affairs, general counsel, secretary of the board of directors | Saab
Since 2012, Annika Bäremo has served as senior vice president and head of group legal affairs, general counsel and secretary of the board of directors at Saab. As general counsel...
Vice president legal and compliance | Sony Mobile Communications
Featured in the GC Powerlist: Nordics in 2015, Åsa Ericson Hedström serves as vice president of legal and compliance at Sony Mobile Communications. Based in Stockholm, she brings her considerable...
Executive vice president and general counsel | Sandvik
Åsa Thunman joined Sandvik in 2014 as executive vice president and general counsel, bringing with her extensive experience in the engineering sector gained in several previous positions. She began her...
General counsel | Husqvarna
‘We must strive to have a deep understanding of the business, and to maintain sufficient internal competence and bandwidth to handle frequently recurring matters’, says Brian Belanger, general counsel of...
General counsel and senior vice president, legal and sustainability | SKF
Carina Bergfelt is a long-serving legal professional for leading global technology provider SKF, having been with the firm since 1990. Founded in 1907, SKF focuses on the development of new...
Vice president, head of legal affairs Sweden | Telia Company
In April 2014, Carl Knudsen became head of legal affairs for Telia Company in Sweden and a member of the management team. His remit covers all of the leading phone...
General counsel | Traction
‘I have a very unique role, combining general counsel and investment management [work] with board directorships’ explains Carl Östring, the current general counsel of Traction, a Swedish investment firm that...
Executive vice president and general counsel | Skanska
Group general counsel of the world leading construction and project development firm Skanska, Caroline Fellenius-Omnell first joined the company in 2017 after gaining an impressive array of experience in the...
Head of compliance | Swedbank
With almost three decades of experience at Swedbank, Cecilia Hernqvist has served as head of compliance for the historic Swedish banking organisation since 2016. Before assuming her current role at...
Lead counsel, legal services | Stora Enso
Headquartered in Helsinki, Stora Enso is a leading provider of renewable solutions in packaging, biomaterials, wood and paper. The company has four sub-functions in its internal legal department: IP, governance,...
Legal counsel | Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken (SEB)
Christina Johard joined Swedish financial organisation SEB in 2011, and during her years as a legal counsel at the Bank had the opportunity to consolidate and add to her financial...
Group general counsel | Com Hem Holding
Christina Källenfors is the group general counsel of Com Hem Holding – Sweden’s largest cable company and a leading supplier of television and high-speed broadband – and explains her significant...
Chief legal officer | IFP&C Insurance Company
Dag Rehme serves as the chief legal officer at If P&C Insurance Company – the largest non-life insurer in the Nordic and Baltic countries – and is responsible for the...
Chief legal officer | Solör Bioenergi Group
Daniel Jilkén is one of the pre-eminent lawyers in the energy sector in the Nordic region owing to his impact on the Solör Bioenergy Group, which comprises of bioenergy companies...
General counsel | Mangold Fondkommission
General counsel David Holmström has led the legal team at corporate finance business Mangold Fondkommission since October 2017, developing the entire internal legal team structure from scratch. He is the...
Vice president and general counsel | Alfa Laval
Alfa Laval is a global leader in the engineering of specialised products and technologies for heat transfer, separation and fluid handling. It creates solutions to help clients to heat, cool,...
General counsel | Boliden
Since September 2010, Eva Rydén has been general counsel, secretary of the board of directors and head of the in-house legal team at Boliden, a Nasdaq Stockholm listed metals company....
Legal counsel | Hennes & Mauritz (H&M)
A legal counsel with almost two decades of experience within Sweden’s iconic global fashion group, Fredrik Björkstedt is rightly regarded as one the country’s most notable in-house lawyers. Beginning his...
Senior vice president, general counsel | Securitas
In January 2018, Frida Rosenholm was appointed senior vice president and general counsel of world leading security company Securitas. As the company’s lead lawyer, she is involved in commercial partnership...
Senior corporate counsel | The Absolut Company
Gabriella Waldhauser is a senior corporate counsel at The Absolut Company (TAC) based in Stockholm, one of six brand companies within Pernod Ricard, the world’s second-largest spirits group. First joining...
General counsel and executive vice president | NCC Group
The Solna-headquartered NCC Group is a construction firm that develops and builds residential and commercial properties, industrial facilities and public buildings, roads, civil engineering structures and other types of infrastructure....
Senior vice president, general counsel | Atlas Copco
Atlas Copco is a leading sustainable producer of vacuum systems, power tools, assembly systems and construction equipment. Currently the senior vice president and general counsel at the historic Swedish industrials...
Group general counsel | Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken (SEB)
In Sweden and around the Baltic region, SEB is well regarded as a leading financial advice and full service financial services firm with a strong focus on corporate investment banking....
Senior legal counsel | Klarna Bank
Since 2008, Henrik Dahlgren has served as senior legal counsel at Klarna, the technology focused commercial bank specialising in online commercial shopping financial transactions. His background in economics and law...
General counsel and senior vice president – head of legal | Bankgirot
Henrik Fromme began his legal career in 2000 working in private practice, first moving to the in-house sector with Preem in 2007, where he stayed until 2011 when he assumed...
Executive vice president legal and general counsel | Mölnlycke Health Care
After training as a deputy lawyer at Vinge and Setterwalls and as a notary in a Swedish district court, Jakob Hedén started at Mölnlycke Health Care in 2007 as a...
General counsel and head of compliance | Industrivärden
Jennie Knutsson joined prominent Swedish asset management company Industrivärden in 2015, in a dual role of general counsel and head of compliance, and as a result, has a wide responsibility...
Legal director Nordic-Baltic | AstraZeneca
Jesper Bergkvist is the legal director for AstraZeneca’s Nordic and Baltic regions, and is the most senior lawyer in the team taking charge of 10 employees in total. As an...
Group general counsel | Assa Abloy
The world’s largest lock manufacturer by sales, Assa Abloy is a Swedish company that is recognised as a leading provider of intelligent lock and security solutions, and has approximately 46,000...
General counsel, Nordics | Unilever
Johanna Vennström is the general counsel and business integrity officer for global consumer products company Unilever, covering the Nordics region which encompasses the countries of Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway and...
Group general counsel | Hexagon
Hexagon is a global technology company specialising in the research and development of cutting edge technical solutions involving data management, measurements, artificial intelligence, remote controls and much more. The company’s...
Group general counsel, senior vice president, head of corporate affairs | Telia Company
Since January 2014, Jonas Bengtsson has been the group general counsel of Telia Company, a Swedish business that holds a commanding position in the telephone and mobile network operator markets...
Senior legal counsel | Telia Company
Jonas Olsson has served as senior legal counsel at Telia Company since 2000, and has therefore been involved in some of the company’s highest profile M&A deals and product launches...
Senior vice president, general counsel | Epiroc
In 2017 Atlas Copco, the Swedish leading provider of sustainable productivity solutions, announced its plans to split its group into two separate companies. Atlas Copco is the business that focuses...
Risk and compliance officer | Arvato Financial Solutions
Julia Lannerheim started her career in private practice as a lawyer at the Vinge law firm, working on corporate law and dispute resolution issues focusing on international and commercial disputes....
General counsel | Schenker North
Kristin Hedlund is the general counsel for the North region of world leading global logistics provider DB Schenker, entailing responsibility for the legal department for the company’s businesses in Sweden,...
General counsel | PostNord
A Swedish public limited company headquartered in Solna, PostNord was founded in 2009 as a result of the merger between Post Danmark and Posten. PostNord is owned 40% by the...
General counsel, head of group legal and governance | IKEA
Kurt-Jörgen Olsson has been in the role of general counsel, head of group legal and governance at IKEA since 2012, and has consolidated his reputation of considerable experience and talent...
General counsel | Autoliv
Lars Sjöbring is the general counsel of Stockholm-headquartered Autoliv, a leading automotive safety technology company with operations globally. Sjöbring expertly manages a global legal team, which consists of 20 members,...
General counsel | EQT
EQT is a regulated global multi-strategy alternative investment firm with approximately 500 employees in 14 countries across Europe, Asia and North America. Lena Almefelt joined EQT in 2012 and is...
Head of group legal | Nordea
Nordic financial services group Nordea has been ably assisted in the execution of its corporate strategy, risk mitigation and compliance affairs by head of group legal Lena Eriksson for almost...
General counsel | Sweco
Since 2011, Lisa Lagerwall has presided over the general counsel role of Sweco, the Nasdaq Stockholm listed leading engineering and architecture consultancy with approximately 14,500 employees across 14 countries and...
Head of legal | Danske Bank
Danske Bank’s operations in Sweden have historical roots dating back to the 19th century; the Bank was previously known under the name of Östgöta Enskilda Bank, which it traded under...
Director legal affairs | Välinge Innovation
Since 2010 Marcus Palm has worked for Välinge Innovation, a ground-breaking firm that is in the business of building materials utilising its worldwide-patented technology. Having been forced to deal with...
General counsel and senior vice president group legal | Volvo Car Group
‘The compliance and ethics team have, with their continuous efforts, made the organisation focus even more on how business is conducted, and conducting business in a responsible manner is key...
Vice president and general counsel | SAS
SAS is the largest regional and international airline connecting Scandinavia with the rest of the world with over 13,000 destinations and is part of the Star Alliance Group. Marie Wohlfahrt,...
Senior vice president, group legal affairs and general counsel | Swedish Match
Since 2015, Marie-Louise Heiman has been the senior vice president of group legal affairs and general counsel at Swedish Match, having first joined the company in 1996. Swedish Match is...
General counsel, chief compliance officer and company secretary | Nobina
Nobina is the Nordic region’s largest and most experienced public transport provider and largest bus company. Martin Pagrotsky joined Nobina in 2006 as general counsel, and added head of compliance...
Chief legal officer | Svenska Handelsbanken
Martin Wasteson has served as chief legal officer of the legal group at Svenska Handelsbanken since March 2015, having been employed as a lawyer at the bank’s central legal department...
Senior vice president and general counsel | Volvo Group Trucks Operations
As the senior vice president and general counsel of one of Sweden’s most valuable manufacturing companies, Martina Klaus is responsible for legal matters, logistics and regulatory affairs at Volvo Group...
General counsel | Kinnevik
Kinnevik is an investment company that was founded in 1936 and is focused on building and backing high-growth challenger businesses that use technology to provide consumers with more and better...
Head of regulatory implementation | Nordea
After training at Linklaters where he became an associate at the firm, Mikael Green moved to the in-house legal sector, first with Carnegie Investments in 2009 and then in 2015...
Senior vice president and general counsel | Electrolux
Mikael Östman first joined world-leading Swedish multinational Electrolux in 2002, and having since gained a sparkling reputation for advice on challenging global legal issues, assumed his current role of senior...
Senior vice president, group function legal affairs, general counsel and board secretary | SCA
SCA is a global forestry and wood products company committed to sustainable forestry and environmental initiatives. It is the owner of the largest private forest holdings in Europe, with 2.6...
Senior vice president and general counsel | Scania
Mikael Sundström is the current senior vice president and general counsel of Scania, having first joined the Swedish commercial vehicles manufacturer in 2004. As an industry leading transport company that...
General counsel | Infranord
Miriam Lewinschal joined Swedish railway contractor Infranord in 2012, after seven successful years in private practice at Mannheimer Swartling and the Stockholm District Court, and was promoted to the role...
Legal director | Klarna Bank
Morgan Lundberg began his in-house career at IT company Oracle in 2007 after a decade of competition legal work in the public sector, where he mainly focused on M&A and...
General counsel | iZettle
iZettle is an innovative financial services platform that is at the forefront of the fast-developing fintech sector, and through its range of services enables small businesses to take payments and...
General counsel | ICA Gruppen
Employed by the listed Swedish retailer ICA Gruppen since 2013, Per Behm serves as general counsel and leads the company’s response to all relevant legal matters. He has an excellent...
Executive vice president, legal, general counsel, country manager Sweden | Stora Enso
Per Lyrvall has been country manager of Sweden and executive vice president of Stora Enso since 2013 after becoming general counsel in 2008, having first joined as a legal counsel...
Associate general counsel and head of corporate legal | Spotify
‘As Spotify has grown, so has the need for corporate legal support, and I have built up the corporate legal team at Spotify from scratch. Today, I’m responsible for nine...
Director of legal affairs and sustainability | Mekonomen Group
As the director of legal affairs and sustainability of the company, Robert Hård is responsible for all legal issues for car service business Mekonomen Group, which is made up of...
General counsel | Axfood
Joining Axfood after a decade of experience at the Ramberg Advocater law firm – where she spent several years as a partner – Sandra Brånstad currently leads the Axfood legal...
Executive vice president group legal and compliance and general counsel | Volvo Group
Sofia Frändberg is executive vice president of group legal and compliance and general counsel of Volvo Group, Sweden’s iconic automotive, aeronautical and nautical vehicle, engine, and other transportation manufacturer. Her...
General counsel | ABB Sweden
ABB is a Swedish-Swiss multinational market leading technology company specialising in electric products, robotics and motion, industrial automation and power grids, and operates across 100 countries with approximately 145,000 employees....
Executive vice president, general counsel | Tele2
Telecommunications firm Tele2 is a pan-European company that has operations in nine countries in Europe and Eurasia, and owing to the sector having large amounts of regulation, requires internal counsel...
Group legal counsel | Folksam
Folksam is a large Swedish insurance company with a wide range of products requiring a variety of legal area coverage. Group legal counsel Stina Åkerlind joined Folksam after developing her...
SVP, group general counsel and company secretary | Nordic Entertainment Group
Susan Gustafsson’s in-house legal career first began in 2003, when she joined the global alcoholic beverages company Pernod Ricard as a corporate legal counsel. For the next five years at...
General counsel | Göteborg Energi
Since February 2012, Susanne Berens Olsson has led the legal team at Göteborg Energi and is involved in all areas of commercial law, corporate law, property law, land rights, public...
General counsel | Bonnier Broadcasting
Controlled by the Bonnier family, Bonnier Broadcasting is a privately held Swedish media group of 175 companies operating in 15 countries, and includes the mainstream Swedish TV channel TV4, streaming...
Head of legal, regulatory and security | Tele2 Sverige
Tele2 is the second largest Swedish telecom operator, operating under the Tele2 and Comviq brands, and after the acquisition of TDC Sweden also offers full service, integrated B2B communication solutions....
Senior vice president, head of corporate legal | IF P&C Insurance Company
Willliam McKechnie has led the corporate legal department at if P&C Insurance Company in Sweden since 2012, and currently leads a team of 22 liability lawyers through the many challenges...
Senior vice president, chief legal officer and head of group function legal affairs and compliance | Ericsson
Ericsson is a world-leading global business with roots in Sweden, and requires a range of different types of support to mitigate its legal and compliance challenges. Xavier Dedullen’s position of...
Despite Sweden’s status as a relatively small country, it punches above its weight in the global economy and can be proud of being home to world-leading businesses across multiple sectors, with some of the most recognisable brand names and technologically advanced companies in existence calling Sweden their home.
Amidst the context of low levels of national debt, low and stable inflation and a healthy banking system, Sweden’s economy is the envy of many, leading its citizens to enjoy some of the highest living standards in the world.
In spite of its strong performance, the Swedish market is not without its challenges, and leading the charge against issues that arise are the country’s in-house lawyers – who are adept at dealing with commercial and legal issues with knowledge and experience, adding value to their organisations whether through expert legal advice, advising senior management or informing company strategy.
In the inaugural GC Powerlist: Sweden we are pleased to highlight some of the country’s leading in-house lawyers. To compile this list, we canvassed opinions from both law firm partners and in-house counsel in the jurisdiction. We identified the most impressive counsel who have utilised their legal knowledge strategically alongside business insight to make a positive impact towards their organisation’s success.
It is with great pleasure that Hamilton, in partnership with The Legal 500, is hosting the GC Powerlist: Sweden, which was established to put in the spotlight the substantial work of in-house counsel and their importance in the legal service sector. We wish to congratulate all the nominated general counsels (GCs) as you have ensured that the in-house legal function continues to drive the business forward.
The role of today’s GC is to demonstrate a strong ability to address complex legal issues with practicable solutions, while adopting a pragmatic and feasible approach to align the legal requirements with the needs of the specific business. The role as a strategic partner in the corporate system for the GC has been given more weight. A strategic response is essential in today’s unpredictable business environment and the legal function is looked upon by boards and management teams as the compass to make decisions that adds value, rather than being viewed as a cost centre.
GCs need to be at the forefront of the continual development of technology which is one of the most fundamental current trends. In addition, the fast-changing regulatory landscape requires the GC to master a wider range of skills.
The legislation which has been in the spotlight over the last year is without doubt the General Data Protection Regulation, GDPR. General counsels, just like law rms, have faced exciting challenges explaining and implementing all regulatory matters into their company’s business. We will both continue to face new challenges as the legal market changes, develops and adapts.
At Hamilton, we work closely with exceptional GCs throughout Sweden. We treasure these relationships as they help us lay the foundation for a stronger practice tailored to meet the high expectations of our clients. Furthermore, GCs guide us in accelerating the transformation of our own role as external legal counsels. It is not anymore just about us knowing what a GC’s company’s business is concerned with. But it is also essential for Hamilton to support the company strategy and planning whilst cementing a stronger two-way bond.
Consequently we have created one of the markets most ambitious development programs for GCs: Hamilton Insights. This program is a series of seminars that provide a greater understanding of pertinent subjects and market updates in various key practice areas. This is supported by Hamilton Perspectives, our legal newsletter, which includes news from business sectors and our practice groups. These initiatives provide GCs with a broader understanding of the challenges being faced in the legal world.
We look forward to facing these challenges together. And once again: all the GCs that have been recognised deserve our warmest congratulations regarding their innovative and exceptional achievement of being nominated for the Powerlist.
We are delighted to launch our first China GC Powerlist since the pandemic. It has been far too long since we could celebrate the best in-house lawyers in this remarkable country, but it has certainly been worth the wait. We thoroughly enjoyed researching this edition and are immensely grateful to the many lawyers and GCs who supported us over the past few months to bring this publication to fruition. The launch event was a huge success, with over 120 key legal professionals who make up the elite of the Chinese legal scene attending to hear speeches from leading partners at sponsor firm Tian Yuan and the in-house lawyers who made it on to this exclusive list.
In particular, the excellent team at Tian Yuan Law Firm played a pivotal role in providing insights into key market changes and introducing some of the most innovative GCs for consideration in this publication.
As expected for legal and business leaders in such a powerhouse economy, we had an abundance of outstanding candidates to choose from. Narrowing it down to the final 100 names was no easy task. Congratulations to everyone included—earning a place on this prestigious list was a significant achievement.
