Catching up with Hannele von Hertzen of SRV

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D&I Quarterly Q3/2016

Posted on

21 Jun

2016

Dittmar & Indrenius > Insight > Catching up with Hannele von Hertzen of SRV

Before joining SRV as Senior Legal Counsel in 2015, Hannele has worked in-house at Fennovoima and as the responsible lawyer for nuclear energy issues in the Ministry of Employment and the Economy. She started her legal career at Dittmar & Indrenius in 1993 after being trained at the bench at the Raasepori District Court and having worked for a smaller law firm in Helsinki before that. She graduated from the University of Helsinki in 1990.

Q: What Are the Most Challenging and Rewarding Things About Working at SRV?

SRV is a highly innovative company that provides end-to-end solutions for the development, construction and commercialisation of projects.

“Our projects offer challenging environment also for us lawyers who transfer the new ideas into agreements with various parties.”

Thanks to the innovative and creative approach our projects offer challenging environment also for us lawyers who transfer the new ideas into agreements with various parties.

As a creative person I really appreciate this way of working although practical legal solutions are not always easy to find in our megaprojects such as “Redi” in Kalasatama, Kehä I Keilaniemi towers, Tampere Areena which is going to be built above the railway or the “Bunker” and “Wood City” in Jätkäsaari.

SRV spirit is also something that we are very proud of. Our firm has been awarded excellent AA+ rating (rank 11) based on the results of Corporate Spirit Ltd’s PeoplePower® personnel survey, which makes us one of Finland’s most inspiring workplaces in 2016. You can really feel the good team spirit every morning when entering the office.

Q: What Legal Issues or Challenges Have You Got Coming Up On the Horizon Over the Next Few Months?

As we are a listed company, one obvious topic is the Market Abuse Regulation that enters into force on July 3. That brings along a lot of work to be completed within the coming months.

Q: In a Client-Role, What Do You Value Most in Terms of Law Firms’ Customer Experience?

One attorney once said to me that in-house lawyers, who have attorney backgrounds themselves, are definitely the most demanding clients. There might be some truth to it.

“The attorney needs to understand the market where the client is operating for being able to provide solutions that are feasible within tight time schedules.”

 

Market understanding is the key requirement. The attorney needs to understand the market where the client is operating for being able to provide solutions that are feasible within tight time schedules. He/she needs to understand the needs of the client in terms of quality, money and time schedule. Most in-house lawyers are busy and do not have the time to read long memos of general nature with even longer disclaimers. Instead, they value solution oriented approaches.

Furthermore, good customer experience is always based on trust between two persons, not between firms. Therefore as a client you hope that appointing an experienced attorney to assist you would mean that he/she would be the one to do the actual work. In real world, however, this is not often the case.

Q: If You Would Have to Move Abroad, In Which City Would You Most Preferably Live and Why?

Everybody who knows me well knows that my ultimate favourite country is Italy. At the latest after retirement I would like to live in a small picturesque Italian village, preferably in Liguria where the climate is mild also during the winter time, Liguria being the second warmest region in the whole Italy after Sicily.

A more professional option would be Munich. Having lived in Germany for three years in the past and speaking German I could easily imagine myself working for a German or multi-national enterprise based in the capital city of Bavaria. Munich is ranked as Germany’s most attractive city with the best quality of life (“Lebensqualität” as the Germans say), close to the Alpes and many other nice places, like Italy.

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