Years of collaboration Avantium: Halsten as permanent flexible shell

Senior counsel Jojanneke works structurally with general counsel Carmen, to meet the varying needs for legal support. For example, we currently participate as a permanent member of the legal team in support of the business, and help with ad hoc issues. By making the right connections, we can pick up a wide range of legal questions and offer speed and continuity.

Carmen Portocarero, general counsel at Avantium:

“Of course, it is not for nothing that Halsten and Avantium have been working together for years!

The teamwork, the talent to function as part of the legal department and the business, the scalability and the expertise for which the support is needed at the time makes this collaboration so successful for a company of our size.

Each of the lawyers we work with as Avantium does so with full commitment, integrity, and the right background to represent the interest of our company that they serve. That trust is an important foundation for our relationship.”

Jojanneke van der Noordt, legal counsel at Halsten:

“The collaboration between us started because of a need for additional legal support for Avantium projects that could not be filled internally at that time for various reasons. So instead of hiring an in-house lawyer, I fulfil a role as senior legal counsel to support the business and I am Carmen’s permanent point of contact for the deployment of suitable extra support from Halsten. I find the years of working with Carmen very pleasant and constructive, where we work towards a common goal and there is a good balance between cooperation and independence.

Appropriate legal support works even better if the right lawyer is deployed for the job. So while one colleague provides structural support to the business at medior level, another colleague Anneke tackles ad hoc employment law issues as a senior, and Marit provides support with various HR questions as a medior. Together, we agree on who best matches the question. That is the advantage of the Halsten team, ready with its diverse experience and knowledge.”

Roel Hakvoort, legal operations manager at Halsten:

“Accelerating the process towards signing contracts, distributing them to the right stakeholders and increasing the quality of the documents; these were the reasons for Avantium to implement DocuSign. From my legal operations role, together with one of the Halsten lawyers who has been involved with Avantium for a long time, I took this in hand and customised the tool. In which I took care of the process and technical role and she took care of the legal content. This combination enables us to offer added value.

From the perspective of operations, you look at a project just a little differently from a lawyer. You spend time on getting the technical details and practicalities of the tool right. So we complement each other within the Halsten team to arrive at the best solution for the customer. And we take away worries about the technical aspects. Optimising processes, however compact or extensive, is what legal operations is all about.”

Article Volkskrant

Read here an article in the Volkskrant about Avantium’s production of plant-based plastic and which big names are collaborating to pioneer the packaging market. A fine client working towards a sustainable future that we are proud of!