Team size: 12

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

As head of legal and compliance in an electronic communications service provider the projects stretch over several areas, including combat of messaging fraud, Compliance with communications regulations, Information security, Contract negotiations, sustainability reporting, and processes regarding our company’s acquisitions. Projects to note are

Reporting under the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) is a new process. Although such reporting was not obligatory until this year, we implemented reporting under the directive already for the 2023-report in 2024. The process has required wider cooperation between departments and processes, and has set widened requirements on the Legal and Compliance team.

Over the last 12 months, the creation and implementation of updated contract templates and related documentation for our commercial markets to meet requirements in updated legislation, as well as changed product portfolio, has been a process requiring cooperation between my team and others on technical and operational level over a year.

The implementation of processes to meet the requirements in NIS2 has been done in multiple steps, where the last 12 months have been focused on implementation in the various companies.

The AI act requires procedures for risk assessment and proper documentation of all potential use of AI in the company, to ensure compliant use. The creation and roll-out of the procedure has been a successful project over the whole footprint.

With clients in all markets, including financial institutions, the introduction of the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) has required increased focus and procedures.

What do you think are the most important attributes for a modern in-house counsel to possess?

Ability to prioritise time for the legal team in alignment with company strategy and targets is essential to manage the line between the organisation and its management’s requirement for relevance and usability, and the need for legal precision and regulatory compliance. Without communicating the requirements in a language that has relevance to the organisation, one will easily be seen as irrelevant and consequently not be in a position to implement required regulations. AI is an example; most organisations wish to use AI and may find processes for risk assessment and documentation to be bottlenecks. However, if the process can also be communicated to customers as a positive feature to ensure compliant procedures, the process may be seen as an asset.

How can general counsel foster a corporate culture that supports ESG principles and compliance across all levels of the organisation?

ESG has become an area with its lingo and its focus areas that can make it seem like a specialised area with little relevance to the organisations one supports. It is therefore vital to structure ESG work towards one’s company’s goals and values, to ensure that ESG is seen as a value to the company. Ensuring that documentation and internal communication is done with the company as focus, rather than focusing on only external elements is key. A typical example is that as much information about the company’s ESG focus as possible should be available on its homepage, with sufficient detail to be of value to stakeholders. This prevents frustrating processes of creating and sending documentation to stakeholders ad-hoc and allows the organisation to see and share information easily, leading to positivity and pride in one’s company’s actions in the ESG area.