Team size: 2. A small and collaborative in-house legal team, where I am fortunate to work closely with my colleague with Maren Sofie A. Samset

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

Over the past year, one key project has been my involvement in the legal aspects of the negotiation and completion of the acquisition of all shares in a company specialising in upgrading marine residual raw materials into high‑value ingredients, contributing to a circular value chain within the aquaculture industry.

Through the transaction, the company was re‑established under Norwegian ownership, securing the continuation of important jobs in the region. Being part of this process – combining industrial, sustainability and regional considerations – has been particularly meaningful.

From an in‑house perspective, the project also reflects the full transactional lifecycle: acting as legal counsel on the buyer side during due diligence, negotiations and completion, and thereafter onboarding the company into the group.

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

A modern in‑house counsel must be close to the business – accessible, pragmatic and able to communicate effectively across all levels of the organisation.

Equally important is the ability to identify the material risks that truly matter, while avoiding unnecessary complexity. At the same time, legal should enable colleagues to take ownership of their own projects, rather than positioning the general counsel as a bottleneck.

This balance is essential both to support sound decision‑making and to ensure that the legal function remains sustainable and value‑adding.

As AI becomes increasingly integrated into legal teams, and the pressure grows to ‘do more with less’, how can GC balance efficiency, quality and human judgement?

General counsel must actively explore and test new tools that can improve efficiency, particularly by handling repetitive or standardised tasks that would otherwise consume significant time.

When implemented responsibly, such tools can free up capacity for complex legal analysis, strategic advice and professional judgement – where the real value of in‑house legal lies. I believe AI should be viewed as a complement to legal judgement, not a replacement.