Team size: The legal department consists of seven FTEs, divided into a legal team of four and an IP team of three.   

How the AutoStore legal team is structured: 

In its early years, AutoStore relied exclusively on external counsel for its legal needs. However, as AutoStore evolved into a global leader in technology and innovation, the volume and complexity of legal challenges increased significantly. To address these challenges efficiently and comprehensively, Jenny Sveen Hovda was appointed General Counsel in 2022. A year later, Christine Stousland joined as Legal Counsel for technology and innovation, eventually being promoted to Vice President Legal.  

AutoStore aims to establish a modern legal function that serves as a strategic business advisor and value driver. To do so, Jenny actively participates in executive discussions, strategy development, board affairs and leads the intellectual property (IP) team. Christine oversees the legal department’s deliverables and sets its strategic direction. To address today’s technological revolution, our multi-disciplinary legal department is exploring technological tools and optimizing the human-to-machine ratio.  

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

This year, we focused on digitalising and standardising contracts and compliance. For example, our AI-powered new contract management system has greatly improved our capacity to e.g. review NDAs – halving response times and saving an estimated $150,000 annually. We have also digitalised communication channels for legal queries, sanction screening and contract negotiations, and provided relevant legal training and compliance workshops to better serve our stakeholders.  

To address the challenging market, we have actively served as business enablers by workshopping how our contracts, IP and structures can support various strategic directions and initiatives. The legal team’s integrated cross-department insights resulted in valuable and practical insights and tools that bolstered the commercial team’s efforts. 

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

We believe that there are three main attributes a modern in-house legal counsel should possess:  

Translator: A modern in-house counsel must translate “legalese” into clear natural language and actionable points. Only when the legal deliverables are widely understood to ensure the right internal accountability and prevent compliance from being just a checkbox exercise.   

Integrator: Our legal team in AutoStore closely collaborates with our internal stakeholders to understand operational processes, challenges, and strengths. This insight allows the team to integrate action points, reporting and legal assessments into existing processes, ensuring compliance is built in by default.   

Techie: As the legal landscape becomes more complex, leveraging technology is crucial for a modern in-house counsel’s success. The inevitable AI revolution demands that the legal team goes beyond drafting AI policies. We believe that the legal team must actively collaborate with IT and relevant stakeholders to use technology as a competitive advantage.