Norway Teams 2018
Supported by the Association of Corporate Counsel
| ABB
Operating mainly in robotics, power, heavy electrical equipment and automation technology areas, Swedish-Swiss multinational ABB is a truly global present in more than 100 countries with approximately 147,000 employees located...
| Aker BioMarine
When Aker BioMarine, the world’s leading supplier of krill (the highly demanded shrimp-like crustacean from Antarctic waters), recognised that there was a need to address its increasingly complex legal issues...
| Aker Solutions
Senior vice president legal and compliance Frode Strømø heads up the global legal and compliance team at Norwegian oil services company Aker Solutions. As Strømø explains, the global team contains...
| Avinor
Avinor Group has a dual purpose as the operator of a network of 45 airports across Norway and the national air navigation service for civilian and military aviation, with 12...
| Cermaq
Operating in Norway, Chile and Canada, Cermaq is a world-leading farmer of salmon and trout. The company’s in-house legal function in Norway is comprised of chief legal officer Axel Gustavsen,...
| ConocoPhillips Norge
Primarily active in petroleum exploration and production, ConocoPhillips is one of the largest foreign operators on the Norwegian continental shelf. Amongst its 1,850 employees is the company’s legal department which...
| Coop Norge
Producing an annual revenue figure of NOK 30.04bn, the historic Oslo-headquartered Coop Norge is a flagship cooperative that has a number of business concerns in the retail sector. Considering the...
| Coor
Since being formed in 1998, Coor has developed into the Nordic region’s leading service management company in just 20 years. The legal function has been headed by Katrine Hverven Sontum...
| Danske Bank Norge
Danske Bank Norge, originally named Fokus Bank, is the Norwegian operation of the Danish Danske Bank. The bank was founded in 1859 and is one of the largest banks in...
| DNB
Founded in 1822, DNB is the largest financial services group in Norway and one of the largest in the Nordic region in terms of market capitalisation. Such a profile means...
| DNO International
DNO International is a major Norwegian oil and gas producer with a portfolio of operations in the Middle East and the North Sea, particularly in the Kurdistan region of Iraq,...
| DNV GL
DNV GL is a global quality assurance and risk management company for the maritime, oil and gas, and energy industries amongst others. The company’s headquarters in Norway has a legal...
| Elkjøp
Elkjøp, also known as Elgiganten in Sweden, Denmark and Greenland, as well under different names in other countries including Iceland, Finland and the Faroe Islands, is the largest consumer electronics...
| Eni Norge
Eni is an Italian-headquartered major energy company, and whose Norwegian subsidiary – Eni Norge – was first founded in 1965. The company has had a major impact in the history...
| Equinor
Formerly Statoil, Equinor is an international energy company and Norway’s largest operator that develops oil, gas, wind and solar energy in more than 30 countries worldwide. Given the importance of...
| EVRY
EVRY is one of the leading IT services and software providers in the Nordic region, with more than 10,000 customers across the private and public sectors. EVRY was created as...
| Forsvarsmateriell (Norwegian Defence Materiel Agency)
A legal team made up of 12 professionals including six lawyers, the legal department working on behalf of the Norwegian Defence Materiel Agency (NDMA) operates with the following mantra according...
| FSN Capital Partners
The legal team of FSN Capital Partners, a leading Nordic private equity investment advisor (to the FSN Capital funds) focused on the middle-market segment, is comprised of general counsel Rebecca...
| Gjensidige Forsikring
A Norwegian insurance company founded in 1923 but with history dating back to the early 19th century, Gjensidige Forsikring today provides a variety of offerings to its customers including a...
| Hafslund E-CO
Hafslund E-CO is a newly created integrated energy and infrastructure group entirely owned by Oslo City Council. Established in July 2018, it merges Norway’s second largest electric power generator company...
| Höegh Autoliners
Since its origins which date back over 90 years, Höegh Autoliners has developed into the leading global provider of transportation and logistics services within the Roll-on Roll-off (RoRo) segment providing...
| Höegh LNG
At the leading edge of the rapid expansion of liquid natural gas that is transforming energy markets around the world, Höegh LNG is the industry leader in the development, ownership,...
| Jotun
Headquartered in Sandefjord, Jotun is a world leading paint and performance conglomerate specialising in decorative, marine, protective and powder coatings represented in over 100 countries. With an operating revenue of...
| Kommunal Landspensjonskasse Gjensidig Forsikringsselskap (KLP)
KLP is Norway’s largest life insurance and pension company with an annual turnover of NOK 650bn and almost 1,000 employees. It offers a wide range of pension, life insurance and...
| Kongsberg Gruppen
In one of the most notable transactions in the sector in the past year, in July 2018 it was announced that Kongsberg Gruppen has entered into agreement to acquire Rolls-Royce’s...
| Kvaerner
The legal team of Kvaerner, a global specialised engineering, procurement and construction company, is rightly recognised as among the most outstanding and innovative in Norway thanks to a four-strong team...
| Lyse
Stavanger-based utilities concern Lyse is a group of companies in the energy production and distribution sector, with a focus on renewable energy, hydropower, gas and LNG, as well as the...
| Nexans Norway
Nexans Norway is a leading supplier of power, telecommunications, installations and heating cables in Norway, and is among the world’s leading manufacturers of offshore control cables and high-voltage submarine cables....
| Nord Pool
Nord Pool runs the largest market for electrical energy in Europe, operating in nine countries. Despite its wide reach, it is a relatively small company and its legal team reflects...
| Nordea
The largest financial services group in the Nordic region and one of the biggest banks in Europe, Nordea has been delivering expert banking services to its customers for over 200...
| Norges Bank
Norges Bank, the central bank of Norway, provides services for the economic stability of Norway by regulating monetary policy and is responsible for the organisation of robust and efficient payment...
| Norsk Hydro
The legal department of aluminium and renewable energy company Norsk Hydro is described by a source within the team as consisting of ‘a very strong, multi-cultural team of highly skilled...
| Norske Shell
As one of the world’s foremost countries in terms of the export of oil, it is unsurprising that oil and gas giant and sixth-largest company in the world Shell has...
| Norske Skog
Norske Skog is a major Norwegian newsprint and high quality paper producer for the newspaper, literature and magazine sector with a worldwide market, eight production centres and 22 sales offices...
| Nortura
The legal team at Nortura – a Norwegian cooperative that is the country’s leading supplier of meat and eggs – is recognised for its contribution to a highly lucrative Norwegian...
| Norwegian Air Shuttle
Norwegian is one of the world’s fastest growing airlines having developed into Europe’s third largest low-cost airline and the world’s fifth largest low-cost airline since its founding only 25 years...
| Norwegian Broker
Norway’s second largest insurance brokerage house, Norwegian Broker specialises in the three areas of expertise, namely, brokerage of personal injury, personal and pension insurance; ownership insurance; and the development and...
| Norwegian Ministry of Finance
The Norwegian Ministry of Finance is the Norwegian government department responsible for implementation and analysis of government policy on taxation, regulation, financial markets, financial institutions, government and private pension schemes...
| Norwegian Ministry of Health and Care Services
With one of the most respected and well-funded national healthcare systems in the world, healthcare in Norway is seen as an exemplary way to provide national health coverage to its...
| NSB
Rather than having a large legal department with all company lawyers located together, government-owned railway company business NSB has a model where two lawyers are employed by the division of...
| Odfjell Drilling
The corporate legal team in Odfjell Drilling consists of one lawyer and one legal counsel, with a new addition scheduled for September 2018 when senior legal counsel Øyvind Skarveland is...
| Opera Software
Opera Software is a software company founded in 1995 in Oslo to create open access internet browsers, and today it creates browsers for computers and mobile devices and other apps...
| Orkla
Orkla is a Norwegian consumer goods company that operates in the Nordic region, Eastern Europe, Asia and the US, supplying branded products to the grocery, pharmacy and bakery sectors. While...
| Oslo Børs
One of the most important institutions in the Norwegian economy, Oslo Børs is an independent securities exchange and the only regulated market for securities trading in Norway. Oslo Børs facilitates...
| Pareto Securities
As part of the Pareto Group which also offers banking, project financing and asset management services, Oslo-headquartered Pareto Securities is an independent full-service investment bank founded in 1986. Pareto Securities...
| Petroleum Geo-Services
Petroleum Geo-Services (PGS) is a leading marine seismic survey and data processing company operating in all of the major oil and natural gas offshore basins worldwide and is headquartered in...
| Posten Norge
Posten Norge, which is also known as Norway Post, is the name of the Norwegian postal service and is owned and governed by the Norwegian Ministry of Transport and Communications....
| Pronova BioPharma Norge
As part of its development into a world leader within the global omega-3 market, German chemical company BASF bought Pronova BioPharma in 2013 before fully integrating the newly acquired company...
| Santander Consumer Bank
Part of Spain’s multinational financial services company Banco Santander, Santander Consumer Bank has total assets of NOK 121bn in the Nordic region and are leaders in car and leisure finance...
| SAS
SAS is Scandinavia’s largest airline with the largest variety of destinations in Europe, the US and Asia as well as a member of the Star Alliance group with 26 other...
| Scatec Solar
In the last two years the legal team of Scatec has grown from two to seven lawyers that have each worked on the development, acquisition, structuring, project debt finance and...
| Schibsted
The legal department at Schibsted, the parent company of Schibsted Media Group, currently consists of six lawyers and is led by Jacob Møller, head of legal and M&A. In addition,...
| Selvaag Bolig
Selvaag Bolig is a large housing development company with several thousand homes under development throughout Norway. During the course of this year’s research, private practice nominators were full of praise...
| Shearwater GeoServices Norway
Established as a joint venture in 2016 by GC Rieber Shipping and Rasmussengruppen, Shearwater GeoServices is a seismic exploration company that provides geophysical services. The newly formed company benefits from...
| Siemens
Dr Matthias Geiger serves as general counsel for the Norwegian operations of global industrials giant Siemens, managing a legal department of six lawyers. Two of the team members are qualified...
| Sopra Steria Holding
Sopra Steria is a France-headquartered leader in digital transformation, providing one of the most comprehensive portfolios of end-to-end service offerings on the market, also with local presence in Scandinavia. The...
| SpareBank1 Gruppen
SpareBank1 is a collection of 14 local independent banks with 300 offices across Norway specialised in community private and business banking services. The alliance is structured by two holding companies...
| Spectrum
Established as a key player in the seismic services market, Spectrum delivers high-quality multi-client seismic data and holds the world’s largest 2D offshore library as well as a significant 3D...
| Sporveien
Sporveien is a group of companies delivering tram, metro and bus services in Norway, building infrastructure and developing real estate in Oslo. The Sporveien Group has 3,700 employees in total...
| Statkraft
Described as ‘very strong’ and ‘skilled and experienced’ by nominators during this year’s research, the Group Tax legal team of Statkraft – a major hydropower company owned by the Norwegian...
| Statnett
A lawyer with more than 25 years of experience in the electricity industry, as well as years of executive board experience, 15 years’ experience as general counsel and managing a...
| Storebrand
A publicly-listed company on the Oslo Stock Exchange, The Storebrand group is a financial services company and a leading player in the Nordic market for long-term savings and insurance. The...
| Subsea 7
OBX-listed Subsea 7 is a subsea engineering, construction and services company serving the offshore energy industry, and is ably served by an in-house legal department that is known within the...
| Swedbank Norge
The legal team at Swedbank Norge carries out all legal guidance and organisation for the Stockholm-headquartered full service bank’s operations in Norway. In his post since 2014, Thomas Rygg Hannestad...
| TechnipFMC
Providing a number of solutions in the oil and gas industry, TechnipFMC is a London-headquartered organisation that has not only a strong presence in Norway, but possesses a legal function...
| Telenor
Telenor dates its origins back to 1855 when it was a Norwegian state-operated monopoly provider of telegraph services. Today the company is a major multinational telecommunications company with approximately 172...
| Telia
The Norwegian subsidiary of Swedish telecommunications giant Telia is a privately owned mobile phone operator and the second largest supplier of mobile services in Norway. Founded in 1993 and headquartered...
| Tine
The growing legal department of three lawyers at TINE, Norway’s largest producer, distributor and exporter of dairy products with 11,400 members (owners) and 9,000 cooperative farms, has gone through personnel...
| Total E&P Norge
Multinational Total E&P Norge is an oil and gas exploration and production company based on the Norwegian continental shelf. It holds exploration licenses in the North Sea, the Norwegian Sea,...
| TrønderEnergi
Multinational Total E&P Norge is an oil and gas exploration and production company based on the Norwegian continental shelf. It holds exploration licenses in the North Sea, the Norwegian Sea,...
| TV 2
Since it began test broadcasting in 1991, TV 2 has established itself as one of Norway’s biggest commercial television broadcasters with headquarters located in Bergen. In addition to the plethora...
| Ulstein Group
Ulstein Group is the family-owned parent company of a group of maritime companies that build and design ships for all commercial, leisure and industrial purposes as well as a bespoke...
| USBL
The five strong in-house legal team at Usbl, a major Norwegian real estate development company, is involved in every project from the acquisition, structuring, building and selling process and until...
| Veidekke
Veidekke is a major construction and property development conglomerate from Norway with operations across Scandinavia through its multiple companies and subsidiaries. It carries out a variety of construction projects across...
| Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics
Founded less than 20 years ago following a merger of a Norwegian and a Swedish company, Wallenius Wilhelmsen has developed exponentially and established itself as a market leader in RoRo...
An exemplary model of sound investment and a progressive taxation system, Norway’s economy has been successful in not only producing a high GDP per capita, but has facilitated a highly enviable standard of living for its citizens with comprehensive welfare and public services. Blessed with an abundance of natural resources, Norway’s economy has been influenced greatly by the oil boom of the 1970’s, and despite the energy industry as a whole growing to become incredibly lucrative since then, successful food processing, shipping and financial industries amongst others are all hallmarks of Norway’s productive economy.
In spite of its immense sovereign wealth, the Norwegian market is not without its challenges, and questions about how best to continue the country’s economic growth and quality of life remain, as well as the issues of susceptibility to market volatility and diversification away from oil-related activities. These challenges are being dealt with head-on by the country’s in-house legal teams, which contain talented and ambitious lawyers adept at dealing with commercial and legal issues with knowledge and experience, adding value to their organisations by giving expert advice to senior management and informing company strategy.
In the inaugural edition of the GC Powerlist: Norway Teams we are pleased to highlight some of the country’s leading in-house legal teams. To compile this list, we canvassed opinions from both law firm partners and in-house counsel in the jurisdiction. We identified the most impressive teams who have utilised their legal knowledge strategically alongside business insight to make a positive impact towards their organisation’s success.
Jamie Rayat, Senior research analyst, GC Powerlist series
We are honoured and pleased to congratulate the legal teams being nominated and admitted to The Legal 500’s GC Powerlist: Norway Teams 2018. The role of legal teams has changed during the recent years to a more complex and vital role in the corporations they represent.
In a more complex world, the management in large and medium-sized corporations is more dependent than ever before on having legal teams with a strong combination of academic skills and business acumen. It is increasingly important with legal teams of experts with individual competences that work closely together to be able to collectively give the best possible advice in a variety of situations. Legal departments that possess such skills will contribute with value-added advice. Such advice will improve the competitive edge, inhibit and solve risks and spot opportunities in a constantly developing competitive environment.
Arntzen de Besche works closely with legal teams in large and medium-sized Norwegian and international corporations within a high number of sectors and countries. The combination of the perspectives, challenges and opportunities these legal teams experience, motivate and thrives us to constantly focus on innovation and improvement to meet and exceed the demands of the legal teams we advise.
Again, we congratulate all of the legal teams who have been nominated and admitted into the GC Powerlist: Norway Teams. Your work, knowledge and dedication provide true value to shareholders, employees and stakeholders.
The Legal 500 was proud to host the third edition of the GC Powerlist: Japan 2025 at the Capitol Hotel Tokyu, honouring the top General Counsel, Chief Legal Officers, Legal Directors, and senior in-house legal professionals operating at the highest level of Japan’s corporate legal landscape. Held in Tokyo, this year’s reception welcomed around 100 of the most respected and senior corporate counsel from across Japan. It was an unrivalled success, and cements Legal 500’s status as the leading force in legal media supporting the achievements of in-house counsel in Japan. The GC Powerlist: Japan 2025 marks the continuation of our commitment to recognising excellence in-house, and this year’s edition represents the most competitive and selective list to date.
Joe Boswell, lead editor of the GC powerlist publication at The Legal 500, opened the evening with an introduction that reflected on the growing prestige of the Japan list. He emphasised how the Powerlist has grown stronger each year, both in scope and quality, making the task of selection more difficult. This year’s honourees emerged from a deeply competitive field, making their recognition even more meaningful.
Boswell extended heartfelt congratulations to all honourees and acknowledged the critical support of key partners and sponsors who made the evening possible. Special thanks were given to Anderson Mori & Tomotsune, Morrison Foerster, iManage, JustLegal, and SS&C Intralinks for their generous sponsorship and ongoing collaboration.
In a moment of reflection, Joe paid tribute to Tim Mackey, chief legal officer at SoftBank, who sadly passed away unexpectedly earlier this year. Tim had contributed to the Powerlist in each of its three editions and was known not only for his exceptional legal acumen but also for his warmth and generosity.
The evening featured insightful remarks from distinguished speakers representing our partners and the broader legal community: Mischa Mulligan, Japan Director at SS&C Intralinks; Hiroki Kodate, Partner and Management Committee Member at Anderson Mori & Tomotsune; Jeremy White, Global Co-Chair of M&A for Morrison Foerster; and, representing those awarded in the Powerlist, Naoki Hamada, General Counsel for Japan at HSBC.
Each speaker provided reflections on legal innovation, leadership, and the evolving role of in-house counsel in Japan’s corporate landscape. Their remarks added valuable context to the achievements celebrated throughout the evening.
The formal awards segment celebrated this year’s GC Powerlist honourees. With assistance from long-time collaborator Isaac Uchiyama who read out awardees’ names, recipients were invited to collect their certificates, pose for photographs, and be formally recognised by their peers.
Certificates were presented on stage by Hiroki Kodate or Anderson Mori & Tomotsune and Jeremy White of Morrison Foerster, whose participation further underlined the deep support of the Japanese and international legal communities.
The GC Powerlist: Japan 2025 reception reaffirmed Legal 500’s commitment to spotlighting the very best of in-house legal talent. With record levels of interest and unmatched quality among candidates, the Japan edition continues to solidify its place as one of the most respected publications in the global GC Powerlist series.
We extend our sincere congratulations to all honourees and thank our partners, sponsors, and speakers for making the evening a success.
We look forward to returning to Tokyo again next year. As a parting gift, you can view Naoki Hamada’s excellent keynote address below, where he touches on a lot of issues and themes that many other GC, whatever country they operate in, will recognise:
‘Good evening, everyone. I am Naoki Hamada of HSBC. I am very pleased to be here speaking to you today. It is a great pleasure and honor, and at the same time, I feel a bit overwhelmed being surrounded by the busiest and most expensive lawyers in the industry—even if I know that nobody will be charging us for their time. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Legal 500 for organizing such a great event, and Anderson Mori & Tomotsune, Morrison Foerster, iManage, SS&C Intralinks, and Just Legal for sponsoring and supporting it. And, huge congratulations on the recognition each of you is receiving, which is truly a great accomplishment and the result of your hard work and the accumulated trust the entire industry has placed in you.
It must be emphasized that this award is given only to general counsels. Being a general counsel means a lot more than just being a subject matter expert. You are a most reliable strategic partner for the business, and I am sure that you have distinguished yourself from the crowd by your ability to identify underlying risks, devise legal solutions, ensure the right processes and governance for corporate decisions, influence others, and educate the next generation of lawyers. This is what you are being recognized for.
Looking back on my career, I have been hugely helped by lawyers in other companies through various industry communities. When I joined the in-house world 12 years ago from a Japanese law firm, large international banks were all struggling with a huge wave of regulatory reform. Back then, I was relatively new to that particular area of finance, and my hiring was somewhat potential-based. Nonetheless, I was assigned to lead the regulatory reform efforts locally. My predecessor had left the bank before I joined, there was no sufficient handover, and I was completely lost as to what to do. What helped me most were the industry peer group discussions, where in-house counsels from major banks would get together to discuss common issues. I learned so much from what was discussed there and absorbed as much as I could. Without that network, I am sure that I wouldn’t have survived that time.
However, our situation today is far more difficult. The changes in the landscape we face today are unprecedented. Technological developments and the corresponding shifts in geopolitical and industrial landscapes are completely unpredictable, and the speed at which they happen is far faster than before. We might face a time that requires us to pivot, forcing us to redefine how we add value and rebuild the way we work. That is somewhat intimidating. But, I am confident that a way forward will be found through the collective wisdom and effort of the people in this room. I would like to be a part of that, and this network of people is enormously valuable and truly priceless.
Finally, let’s have a drink and celebrate our achievements for now – before your CEO calls asking you to join a call! Thank you so much.’
