Who am I?

Hello! My name is Anna and I work as in-house legal counsel at Holmen.

I have roots in both northern and middle Sweden, and I now live just south of Stockholm with my husband, our two children, a dog and a cat. After studying law in Uppsala, working as a trainee judge at the District Court in Örebro and practising at a law firm in Stockholm, I found my way to Holmen. And I stayed – for just over 20 years now.

Whenever I can, I enjoy spending time at our cabin in Sälen. Snowmobiling and downhill skiing are of course appealing, especially when the children come along, but I appreciate being there just as much at other times of the year. Skiing is a major interest for me and my family, and so is handball, which means many of our weekends are spent in sports halls.

 

My workplace

The Legal Department consists of six people, and we handle all types of legal matters. One of my colleagues is based in Örnsköldsvik, while the rest of us are in Stockholm.

I work with anyone at Holmen who needs legal support. This includes all business areas and group functions, regardless of country or department. It may involve long and complex projects, urgent and specific matters, or recurring group-wide tasks. The work is very varied and involves contact with colleagues across all parts of the group.

 

How does a typical working day look like?

There is no such thing as a typical working day, but I have tried to describe a possible scenario.

I arrive at the office early and use that time to work on documents before meetings and ad-hoc questions begin. I manage to review and send a few emails, sending a logistic purchaser in Norrköping a revised draft agreement on transport services and replying to a co-worker in Iggesund that my comments to a collaboration agreement for research and development will be sent later in the week.

I rarely have fixed recurring meetings, but the project related to the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) has required a long-term, group-wide approach. I therefore take part in weekly meetings on this topic with representatives from our different business areas such as Forestry, Wood Products ,and Board and Paper. The work involves legal interpretation, IT solutions, communication and internal workflows. Together, we try to understand what is already in place and what may still be required.

I then head out for lunch nearby with my room-mate Hanna-Lotta, who is also part of the Legal Department.

Back at the office, I meet with colleagues from Holmen IT and Energy to align on how we should approach safety and security work linked to Energy’s electricity generation operations. In addition to safeguarding our own interests by avoiding production stoppages, we need to ensure compliance with various regulations. The work covers IT systems, physical security and personnel matters. Immediately afterwards, I join a short Teams meeting with a purchaser and a project manager at Braviken Mill to discuss a few issues related to rebuilding one of our machines.

During the rest of the afternoon, I work through various matters. I have a Teams meeting with representatives from Board and Paper, based in Amsterdam and Norrköping, to finalise the drafting of joint sales terms. I then call the sales office in the US to go through a number of questions related to the tariffs introduced by Trump and his administration. Before heading home, I manage to send an email concerning an agreement with a customer.

 

Why Holmen?

When I started at Holmen, I only was familiar with Modo, as a former Örnsköldsvik resident. Over the years, it has been both enjoyable and challenging to work with all the different parts of the group’s business. I like trying to see what our different businesses have in common and what sets them apart. Much is happening both within Holmen and in the wider world, which means that the issues I deal with are constantly evolving.

I believe the strength of Holmen lies in being long-term and trustworthy without becoming old-fashioned. To me, a typical Holmen employee is knowledgeable and solution-oriented, but also sociable and, above all, down-to-earth. That is what makes Holmen a great place to work.

 

Finally

Thank you for reading my blog. Perhaps we will cross paths in the future. That was all from me this time.

/Anna