Magseis Fairfield – GC Powerlist
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Norway Teams 2022

Industrials and real estate

Magseis Fairfield

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Norway Teams 2022

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Magseis Fairfield

Team size: six

Can you briefly explain how the legal team is structured, highlighting key individuals and their role within the department?

Magseis Fairfield is a geophysical company headquartered in Lysaker, Norway. It has subsidiaries in Houston, the UK, Malaysia, Singapore, and Brazil. It provides seismic services to customers globally. The business is based on a solid technological foundation, with in-house developed proprietary OBN nodes, handling and deployment systems that hold the potential to improve efficiency and reduce the costs of seismic surveys.

The legal team is led by the group general counsel Laila Myksvoll — responsible for providing legal support and assistance to the business. The main scope is to advise the CEO and the management board on all legal matters and take part in crucial decisions. The general counsel is also responsible for supervising the legal team and ensuring that the company has the right legal competence and capacity to support the organisation’s needs, managing external counsel and litigation. Laila acts as company secretary, guiding all corporate governance matters.

Hélène Dessagne, deputy counsel and compliance officer, is responsible for providing legal support and assistance concerning commercial business activities and compliance. The key role is to lead the legal contracts team and assist all internal departments with contract review, drafting and negotiation. The compliance officer manages global compliance, including anti-corruption, business ethics, trade compliance, data protection, anti-trust, and privacy.

The contract managers — Dele Azeez and Alan Madden — are responsible for reviewing, negotiating, and managing contracts in line with company standards. They also deal with various other legal, compliance and corporate matters arising in connection with the company’s activities.

Elloria Lindley is the paralegal who assists the legal department in all matters, including oversight and management of the contract system, processes, and database. This role also includes drafting contracts and other legal documents.

The Director of IP, Phillip Shotts, manages intellectual property matters focusing on designing and implementing invention capture processes, driving patent prosecution, managing patent litigation, reviewing infringement incidents, and administering licensing issues. The critical aspect of the role is to develop and execute strategies in all phases of intellectual property management and provide sound counselling to the executive and commercial teams to support business decisions.

How do you feel the pandemic has changed the world of work for in-house counsel and the function of the general counsel?

The pandemic has changed the world of work for in-house counsel in many ways. Remote working has created many challenges, impacting people’s mental health.

Being a global offshore business, we have continuously developed and improved our risk management procedures to adapt to the rapidly changing regulatory environment.

There has been increased pressure to do more with less — being productive and disciplined in a financially stressed situation. Legal departments have come to assume a more strategic role in decision-making.

Laila Myksvoll
Group general counsel
Magseis Fairfield

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