About

The third largest trade association in Denmark is the Danish Agriculture & Food Council, which has an estimated annual export of products amounting to DKK 151 billion. The approximately 350 employees at the Council have various backgrounds ranging from agronomics to economics. Up until early 2015 the legal department was “tolerated” under the General Business Department. Charlotte Bigum Lynaes, now chief legal counsel, changed this layout by reporting legal matters directly to the CEO and representing the legal department on the group of directors. During her four years with the Council she has ‘turned the legal supporting function into a more dynamic, powerful and visible business entity, offering not only legal advice but a more overall guidance on how legal initiatives can impact the political agenda’. Bigum Lynaes is classed as an ‘extremely skilled lawyer’ as she handles ‘the difficult spinning field between member-political aspects and the Danish Parliament’s political regulation of the interests of the Agriculture & Food Council members’. In her role she has been a key player in several successes. Among these was the rejection of 23 water basin plans issued by the state without attention to procedural rules. Her ability to find quick solutions to political agreements that have entered without regard to the legal impact is commendable. ‘I find great pleasure in coming up with solutions that tie these loose ends together’.