Advokatfirmaet Haavind AS

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Regularly acting for governmental entities and leading Norwegian corporations, Advokatfirmaet Haavind AS is praised by clients for its ‘very strong understanding of the IT sector’. Leif Eirik Thrane oversees the team and advises leading Norwegian companies on large IT outsourcing transactions and M&A in the tech sector; he attracts praise for his ‘great understanding of technology’. Arne Byberg is the key contact for contract work in the tech industry, while Andreas Bernt takes point on media matters. Data privacy and information security work is handled by Kari Gimmingsrud. Stian Hultin Oddbjørnsen joined the team from CMS Kluge in 2024.

Legal 500 Editorial commentary

Testimonials

Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.

  • ‘I have been working with Haavind for 15 years and they have always been delivering to the highest standards both when it come to content as well as way of working. This goes for the team and the individuals.’

  • ‘The best feature of Haavind is that the team has a very strong understanding of the IT sector and is therefore capable of delivering advice that is to the point.’

  • ‘The lawyer at Haavind that stands out the most is Leif Thrane. Very competent, high attention and to the point.’

  • ‘Highly skilled team, a good mix of experienced and more newly educated lawyers.’

  • 'Leif Eirik Thrane has extensive legal knowledge, and he also has a great understanding of technology enabling him to quickly dig into demanding matters involving complex technology and complex legal questions. He has excellent negotiation skills, and manages to maintain a good dialogue with counterparties based on trust and respect.'

  • 'Authentic and personal attention and service, in addition to excellent legal expertise.'

  • ‘I work mostly with Kari Gimmingsrud. She is always available for us. Kari has the ability of both being really highly skilled and competent in relevant laws and regulations and at the same time also having a good business insight, being able to give clear and good advice back to us in a timely manner.’

Key clients

  • Equinor ASA
  • Southern and Eastern Norway Regional Health Authority (HSØ)
  • Health Emergency Network Operations Organization (HDO)
  • Mowi ASA
  • Monterro
  • Viaplay Group
  • The Norwegian Government Agency for Financial Management (DFØ)
  • Recharge
  • The Norwegian Bar Association

Work highlights

  • Advising the Norwegian Defence sector on some of the largest IT contracts and tech matters in the country.
  • Leading tech law adviser to Equinor on a large portfolio of IT matters.
  • Represented Viaplay in high-profile lawsuits concerning the broadcasting of Premier League football in Norway.

Lawyers

Leading partners
The strongest partners in their field, leading on market-leading deals and endorsed by peers and clients alike.
Kari Gimmingsrud
Kari Gimmingsrud is head of the Technology, Media and IPR practice and also leads Haavind`s data protection team. Kari specialises in data protection, cyber security compliance and technology law. She advises companies and public authorities within a variety of sectors, and has long experience with large projects in the intersection between data protection, commercial agreements and legislation covering national security, employment, health, finance and consumer protections. Her practice also include assisting clients with other regulatory and ICT issues such as artificial intelligence, electronic marketing and e-privacy. Kari also has extensive experience with employment law and assists clients with employment law matters, compliance and governmental or internal investigations,.  Kari has previously worked as a compliance manager and legal advisor in Telenor. She applies her experience by assisting several major Norwegian and global technology companies in Haavind’s client portfolio. She is active in the Norwegian Bar Associations committee for ICT and privacy and is a co-author in the commentary edition of arbeidrett.no. She is both supervisor and examinator at the Faculty of Law, University of Oslo and often holds lectures for the Lawyers’ Education Center.
Leif Eirik Thrane
Partner Leif Eirik Thrane is head of Haavind’s TMT practice team and has more than 20 years of experience in TMT law. Under his leadership, the TMT practice in Haavind has grown to be the one of the, if not the, largest TMT practice groups in Norway. Partner Thrane is specialised large IT projects, including complex outsourcings, digitalisation issues, other business processes, IT agreements and in tech M&A. He also has extensive experience with licensing, cloud services and system development agreements. He has been part of the corporate management of a leading Nordic listed IT-service company and has extensive experience in combining law with commercial decisions. With a strong focus on transnational IT projects and M&A transactions, Partner Thrane has worked on numerous projects outside the Nordic countries, including Russia, Latvia, Poland, Germany, England, USA and India. Clients have particularly appreciated Partner Thrane’s extensive in-house experience and in-depth industry knowledge, along with his practical, problem-solving advice.
Arne Byberg
Partner Arne Byberg specialises in technology, media and IPR and is one of the most recognised and experienced technology lawyers in Norway, with an unparalleled international background and in-house experience from the tech industry. He advises businesses on technology law and specialises in IT-related transactions. With significant international experience, Byberg advises C suite business leaders on strategic direction, digitalisation and transformation strategies. Prior to joining Haavind, he held numerous leadership positions in-house within companies in the tech industry. Byberg’s expertise includes data ownership, including non-personal data; IT services agreements, agile contracts, outsourcing, licensing and cloud solutions; digitalisation and other strategic transformation of businesses; negotiation support in procurement or sale of technology; system development agreements and IPR; dispute prevention and tech dispute resolution assistance; technology-focused M&A. In addition to his daily legal practice, Byberg is active in various professional organisations, including The International Technology Law Association, and he contributes to the broader tech law community through articles, presentations and panel discussions on tech law related challenges.
Andreas Bernt
Partner Andreas Bernt advises companies within the media and technology sectors, and is specialised in intellectual property rights and media law, including IT contracts as well as copyright, licensing and distribution relation to TV and film. He is one of the country’s leading experts on copyrights in the digital age, and a litigator in IPR and IT disputes. He has prior experience of having served as a judge at the district court level. He often works closely with the top management in both Norwegian and international businesses in matters relating to strategy and general policy, and in negotiation and drafting of contracts. He has extensive experience with dispute resolution and litigation, especially in matters relating to copyright and other intellectual property rights. Clients have particularly appreciated Partner Bernt’s industry knowledge and have described him as very skilful in his work.

Practice head

The lawyer(s) leading their teams.

Leif Eirik Thrane

Other key lawyers

Arne Byberg, Kari Gimmingsrud, Andreas Bernt, Stian Hultin Oddbjørnsen