The Legal 500

Legal Developments in Norway

• Corporate Governance - 2010

  Sources of corporate governance rules and practices
  - Kluge Advokatfirma DA

• Earn money by renting out the cabin

  Å ha hytte kan være dyrt. Å leie ut hytten kan derfor være lurt og lønnsomt. Det gjelder imidlertid å vite hvilke skatte- og avgiftsregler som gjelder.
  - Advokatfirmaet Grette DA

• Åsne Seirstad offered to pay compensation to the bookseller's wife

  Åsne Seierstad’s international bestseller, The Bookseller of Kabul, portrays an Afghan bookseller and his family, and tells the story of a patriarch society were men are considered superior to women. In 2002 Seierstad was invited to live with the bookseller and his family. During a family dinner Seierstad said to herself “This is Afghanistan. How interesting it would be to write a book about this family”. This dinner and the emerging idea are described in the book’s opening. From a legal point of view it is of course relevant that Seierstad claimed to be portraying an actual family. The book was based on Seierstad’s many conversations and discussions with the bookseller and his family during her stay.
  - Advokatfirmaet Grette DA

• Principal new judgement of The Supreme Court regarding pension

  On 7 April this year, the Supreme Court pronounced judgement in a case between Fokus Bank and a group of employees in the bank. The case concerned the matter of whether an employer may unilaterally change (“convert”) the employees’ pension scheme from performance-based to contribution-based. The Supreme Court concluded that Fokus Bank had the right to unilaterally convert the pension scheme to a contribution scheme. The Supreme Court’s reasons are principal and presumptive in the sense that employers have such a right, even when the new contribution scheme clearly is less beneficial for the employees than the old performance scheme.
  - Wiersholm

• Wikborg Rein newsletter: Paying for pirates

  Background: Attacks by Somali pirates are still commonplace and the fall-out from kidnappings of individuals and seizures of ships by pirates are still being dealt with by insurance companies, P&I clubs, arbitration tribunals, courts of law and national governments.
  - Wikborg Rein

• Gas Regulation 2010

  Description of domestic sector: Describe the domestic natural gas sector, including the natural gas production, liquefied natural gas (LNG) storage, pipeline transportation, distribution, commodity sales and trading segments and retail sales and usage.
  - Kluge Advokatfirma DA

• Security and Insolvency - Does contract cancellation provide you with a guaranteed solution?

  It has been a tempestuous few years in world markets and whilst the Scandinavian model economies have survived the worst of the downturn, bankruptcies have been prevalent and the international nature of trading patterns has exposed Norwegian companies and local authorities to disputes in courts around the globe. The banking crisis has been compounded by the financial implosion of countries such as Iceland and Greece, leaving recession-hit economies already affected by increased regulatory constraints, environmental protection measures  and enhanced solvency requirements, still struggling to sustain growth.
  - Vogt & Wiig AS

• Norway: MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS 2010

  Norway is not a member of the European Union (“EU”), but it is a member of the European Free Trade Association (“EFTA”) and the European Economic Area (“EEA”). This means that most EU regulations concerning M&A transactions has been and will be implemented in Norwegian law, including MIFID and the Transparency Directive.
  - Advokatfirmaet Steenstrup Stordrange DA

• Norway Transactions (Q&A)

  What different types of private equity transactions occur in your jurisdiction? Over the past 10 years private equity activity has increased substantially in Norway. The increase in deals did not extend into 2009, which became a consolidation year for most private equity players in Norway, in line with the global trend.
  - Advokatfirmaet Steenstrup Stordrange DA

• Enforcement of security interests in banking transactions

  Norwegian law requires a statutory basis for establishing a security interest. The pledge act of 8 February 1980 no 2 (the 'Pledge Act') is the legal basis for most types of security which can be established pursuant to Norwegian law. It is a general condition for establishing a security interest that the assets to be pledged are transferable, and to the extent transferability is conditional the same condition will apply to the security.
  - Advokatfirmaet Steenstrup Stordrange DA