Mads Birkeland was just going to England for a year to study for an MBA and improve his language. This was six years ago. Instead of returning to his job at Danske Bank, he took up employment with an English law firm where several other colleagues were Danish. Since then they have joined forces to build up their own law firm specialising in Danish and English company and business law.
Behind Buckingham Palace lies a small quaint street with white English terraced houses. Jacqueline Kennedy’s sister, Caroline Lee Radziwill, lived here in number 4 for 30 years. This was where John F. Kennedy stayed when he came to London and he used to dine in the room decorated with leather tapestry.
Both the dining room and the sitting room with the floral curtains remain exactly the same as they were then. But today the Anglo/Danish law firm Corren Troen inhabit these rooms. Initially, about three years ago, the firm rented one single room. Now the 20 employees inhabit most of the building and also have a department in Copenhagen.
One of the lawyers, 36-year-old Mads Birkeland, has been a partner since he became a solicitor in 2004. They were a team of five from Osborne Clarke who decided to set up their own firm. In their opinion, the client base was there. 50,000 Danes live in London and several Danish companies would like to get in touch with the English market.
- We specialise in Anglo/Danish law. When a Danish company wishes to take over an English company it is often desired that the deal be done in accordance with its own traditions. The English party feels the same way. However, the two legal frameworks must be adjusted to one another and this is our specialty. The law differs in lots of ways. For instance, the rules regulating when an offer can be retracted are very different – and rules based on EU directives may have been implemented in different ways, which becomes significant when deals are being made across borders, Mads Birkeland explains.
After four years of working as a lawyer at Danske Bank in Copenhagen and six years of working in England he feels at home in the legal systems of both countries. But it has been a hard journey.
- You are somewhat disadvantaged when you first arrive. Your English is poorer, your knowledge of English law is limited, you are not acquainted with certain terms and expressions commonly used in the business and you have no network. At times it feels like you are starting from scratch completely, says Mads Birkeland, who believes it takes about a year to crack the linguistic code.
- You may as well accept that it will never be completely perfect – and I still have days when I feel caught between two languages and cannot find the right words in neither Danish nor English. |
