Kvaerner merger sees legal director head off to Dorsey

Jan Greve, former legal director at Norwegian construction company Kvaerner, has joined the London office of Dorsey & Whitney.

Greve has taken his first plunge into private practice after Kvaerner moved its headquarters from London back to Oslo following its January merger with Aker.

Aker Kvaerner, which recently cut 1,000 jobs, has retained no central in-house function, with some lawyers being made redundant and others moving to assorted business units. Most of the legal work is now outsourced to Norwegian firm BA-HR.

This is Greve's first job in private practice after nearly 25 years in-house. He was in-house counsel at Norsk Hydro in Norway and Germany prior to joining Kvaerner.

Greve said that after 13 years with Kvaerner he relished the challenges offered by Dorsey, with which he has had a long relationship. He has great experience of international M&A, corporate finance, dispute resolution, engineering and construction contracts and restructuring.

"Kvaerner's financial crisis a year ago raised a lot of legal issues," said Greve, "It was exciting - maybe too exciting."

Greve expects to work with Nordic clients and law firms. "The idea is not to compete with Scandinavian firms, but to cooperate with them," he said.

While at Kvaerner, Greve's closest links were with Thommessen Krefting Greve Lund, BA-HR and Wiersholm Mellbye & Bech.

Greve said that he chose a US firm because of the international approach, adding: "Norwegian firms can't give advice when they cross the borders."