Employment

Advokatfirmaet Haavind AS

Advokatfirmaet Haavind AS has expertise in all areas of employment law encompassing pensions matters, restructurings, data protection work and collective employment law; the ‘highly competent’ team is also skilled in litigation and dispute resolution. Practice head Gaute Krokann is an experienced lead on investigations, whistleblowing cases and restructurings, while Lars Kokkvold specialises in business-critical matters, and is often involved in cross-border employment issues such as transfers of undertakings, investigations and reorganisations. Other notable practitioners are Pål Kvernaas, who is renowned for both his strategic advisory work and dispute resolution expertise; and Sten Foyn, who specialises in redundancies, whistleblowing claims and restructurings. Kari Sigurdsen is also recommended for her litigation and investigations skills, specifically in determination of employment, resignation, temporary employment and whistleblowing issues.

Legal 500 Editorial commentary

Testimonials

Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.

‘The employment law team in Haavind continues to be a very strong legal team. We have had close collaboration with them for many years, and have been and continue to be very happy with their assistance. Haavind have always given strong, well funded and effective support, and are very service minded and available.’
‘The employees understand our business and give advice accordingly. They are available whenever we need to discuss an issue at hand.’
‘This team has a very high professional level and is very easy to work with.’
‘We use Haavind as our key partner for personnel security. They have provided support and advice in a number of actual cases, but also in guiding our company in developing our internal governance and policy structure on the subject. They are the leading legal team on this subject in Norway.’
‘Our point of contact is Gaute Krokann, and he has been our preferred partner for many years. He is always available, has an analytical mindset and has the ability to always maintain a strategic and holistic approach in both actual cases and in developing governance structure. Additionally, Gaute has a winning personality and is very easy to cooperate with.’
‘Sten Foyn is up to date on all legal issues concerning our challenges and what we need help with.’
‘Pål Kvernaas is our main contact person in Haavind. His responses to our questions are always relevant, to the point and timely. The response is always according to our request of "need to know" and not "nice to know".’
‘We have been working with partner Lars Kokkvold. I have used Lars as a legal adviser in employment matters for over 20 years and he is always capable of finding good solutions. He has excellent communication skills, displays a deep knowledge of relevant legal topics and always delivers.’

Key clients

Lyreco Norge AS
The Norwegian Armed Forces
The Norwegian Police/The National Police Directorate
NCR Group ASA
Handelsbanken
The Norwegian Safety Investigation Authority
Randstad
Equinor
Hurtigruten Group
Telenor Group
Norwegian Air Shuttle
Posten Norge
ISS Facility Service
Ryanair
Helse Sør-Øst
DN Media Group
The Norwegian Consumer Council
Utdanningsdirektoratet/The Norwegian Directorate for Education and Training
Warner Music Norway
Avarn Security Group

Work highlights

Lodged two complaints with the ESA on behalf of two large staffing companies against the new hiring regulations in the Norwegian Working Environment Act, due to possible breach of EU Directive 2008/104 and Norway's EU/EEA service freedom obligations. Following the complaint, ESA has opened a case towards Norway for possible breach on the EEA agreement.
Investigated and assessed the internal handling of a whistleblowing incident within the Norwegian Police.
Assisted Hurtigruten with significant restructuring measures.

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