About

Global consumer goods giant Unilever has a strong presence in the Nordic countries, and its business activities in the region are supported by a compact but agile, knowledgeable and business-savvy legal function. Run with a mission of “inspiring trust, championing growth and leading for change”, the team provides legal support to Unilever’s operates in its Nordic cluster, which encompasses the countries of Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway and Iceland. The team is comprised of the following three lawyers; general counsel Nordics Johanna Vennström, senior legal counsel Anna Edman, and associate legal counsel Christos Keskinis. Keenly aware of the challenges related to developing markets and ways of working, Vennström states that the most important changes the team has been concerned with relate to ‘what is happening around us’ including ‘rapidly changing and unpredictable market conditions, digitalisation, and increased complexity. All of this requires our team to be agile, adapt and respond with new more flexible ways or working, digital solutions, good understanding of the business environment, legal expertise and sound judgment’. To this end, the team has been busy on a number of different business affairs. Most significantly, the team has been working on the divestment of the company’s baking, cooking and spreads businesses, and has negotiated and contributed to the introduction of new business models, including significant licensing arrangements. Vennström adds the team has overseen the ‘efficient implementation of processes, trainings and materials to land the GDPR across all Nordic countries [as well as] successfully challenging trade mark infringement of one of our key brands’. In dealing with this risk mitigation remit, the team also looks to the future, and is in tune with the changing demands of legal affairs provision. When asked about the role of technology, Vennström says, ‘Although there are plenty of discussions on the role of technology and robots moving forward, we rely on our people to provide judgement and decisions, that is our true value add. It is about who we are and what we do both as a legal function, but also more broadly as a business’. Always working diligently and in-line with its team mission, the Unilever Nordics legal team is a true business partner, being completely aligned with its mission. As Vennström explains, this has an impact in how it operates – for example to “inspire trust” the team generates this in part by ‘always doing the right thing’, and champions growth by focusing on ‘strategic value adding work [and] supporting the business to win through new business models, channels, digital transformation and portfolio changes by using new and innovative legal solutions’. The team’s commitment to these values is also evinced through its commitment to “lead for change”, on which Vennström comments, ‘is about how we transform ourselves and the way we work. We understand the possibilities of the “future of work” and are willing to take a lead for change within Unilever as well as within the industry to demonstrate this’.