Team size: 8

TOMRA is a sustainable technology company with a presence in over 100 countries globally. TOMRA provides technology-led solutions that enable the circular economy with advanced collection and sorting systems that optimize resource recovery and minimize waste.

What are the key projects that you have been involved in over the past 12 months?

As the first in-house lawyer in Asker, starting mid-2020, it has been essential to establish a legal governance and risk framework, create a legal strategy and build a legal team to ensure we have the right competence and capacity.

By building and expanding my team, we can now provide extensive legal advice and support on a broad service portfolio such as commercial contracting, competition law, privacy, litigation and dispute resolution, M&A, partnerships, corporate, projects and IP and product development, software, digital and data governance, regulatory issues, marketing, sourcing, supply chain management and more.

One of the primary objectives for me has been to foster a strong relationship with the business globally, to demonstrate the value of having legal in-house, and contribute to TOMRA’s overarching business growth goals. We work proactively to support TOMRA’s growth ambitions with expansion into new markets. During the last 4 years we have established and started operations in 18 new markets. Our market entry strategy differs from either establishing the new subsidiary “greenfield”, or by acquiring a former distributor or partner in the respective market. In existing markets, we make acquisitions and develop new technology to grow.

What strategies do you employ to ensure the successful digital transformation of a legal department while maintaining compliance with your country’s data protection laws?

One priority for me has been to invest in legal technology to improve governance and efficiency in our business operations and also to be able to support better. A key achievement last year was the implementation of our new contract management system. This is an important legal strategic initiative for us. As we were not bound by existing tools or organisation, we could choose the best tool for our needs and focus on tackling business challenges from the start. We will also use this tool to develop legal KPI’s and ensure that our legal resources are allocated to the most important cases and issues. We are also actively looking into using AI.

During the last year we have also revised and updated the privacy compliance framework in TOMRA to ensure adherence to regulations and industry standards. We have better aligned the privacy governance framework to our company by operationalizing it and ensuring business ownership and accountability.

Have you had any experiences during your career as a lawyer that stand out as particularly unique or interesting?

TOMRA was hit by a cyber-attack in 2023. The attack was a reminder of the importance of cybersecurity and the need for robust legal and technological measures to protect information and also be able to act fast.

From a legal perspective, the collaboration with cybersecurity experts, and communication with relevant stakeholders, including regulatory bodies, customers, and employees under time pressure and with limited information was a new experience. We had to navigate complex legal landscapes involving data privacy, notification requirements, and potential liability issues simultaneously.

What is a cause, business or otherwise, that you are passionate about?

Working in TOMRA is, per definition, being passionate about sustainable business practices. There is a deep drive in the company to promote our technology and solutions to help the world be more circular. Working with colleagues and having this mindset every day is both rewarding and deeply embedded in our culture.