Kristin Hjelmaas Valla
Kvale Advokatfirma DALauded by clients for its ‘excellent professional expertise and industry understanding’, Kvale Advokatfirma DA handles merger clearances, infringement claims, and abuse of dominance cases for a strong group of clients in the telecoms, media, grocery, and life sciences sectors. Practice head Kristin Hjelmaas Valla handles merger clearance, cartel and leniency processes, and compliance work, while Robert Lund takes point on state aid and public procurement cases; state aid forms a core pillar of work for the group. The ’elite‘ Gjermund Mathisen joined the group and has extensive in-house experience from the EFTA Surveillance Authority.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
‘Insight in market and business issues, coupled with strong legal competence.’
‘The team offers a combination of excellent professional expertise and industry understanding with practical advice.’
‘Kristin Hjelmaas Valla and her team have provided proactive and highly appreciated support and advice in complex, high-profile cases of great importance for the company. Their services and advice have been relied on with success in both long-term projects and separate cases.’
‘Extremely knowledgeable and probably one of the best in Norway in this field. I worked with Robert Lund and Gjermund Mathisen.’
‘Kvale has assisted us with several state aid legal issues. They are very professional and the deliveries have been very good.'
‘We have received particularly good assistance from Gjermund Mathisen. His solid background in state aid and experiences from ESA have been very valuable. He responds quickly and works efficiently.’
‘Gjermund Mathisen: outstanding knowledge of the EU law, including the bureaucratic procedures. An elite academic and legal practitioner who is also able to convert the academics into applicable and "to the point" advice.'
‘Kristin Hjelmaas Valla: One of the most efficient lawyers dealing with competition cases in Norway and for merger cases in particular. Hermann Solheim: Understands cases really quickly.’
Key clients
- Telia Norge
- Hydro
- Pfizer
- Tine
- Visa Europe
- Vigmostad & Bjørke
- Barilla
- Coca Cola European Partners Norge
- GlobalConnect
- DLF (the Grocery supplier's association)
- NHO Mat og Drikke (FoodDrinkNorway)
- Grønnegata 21
- Kirkeveien 72
- Mano
- Nortura
- Elkjøp Nordic / Currys
- Ministry of Trade and Industry
- Lerum
- DNB Bank
- Diplom-IS
- Bilia
- Tradesolution
- The Norwegian Association of Local and Regional Authorities (KS)
- The Coastal Shipowners Association (Kystrederiene)
- Innovation Norway
Work highlights
- Advising Vigmostad & Bjørke on its appeal against the Norwegian Competition Authority's investigation and infringement decision, finding it participating in an anti-competitive agreement with other book publishers.
- Advising Elkjøp Nordic on the ongoing investigation by ESA (EFTA Surveillance authority).
- Working for several parties involved in the Boligbygg case, a large state aid lawsuit filed by the Municipality of Oslo relating to the so-called ‘housing construction scandal’.
Lawyers
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Practice head
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Kristin Hjelmaas Valla