Landslög Law Offices

Firm Details:
Contact: Mr Vidar Ludviksson, LL.M. (Stanford Law School), Supreme Court Attorney, Partner
Number of partners: 13
Number of lawyers: 20
Languages: English, Danish, German, Norwegian, Swedish, Icelandic

Firm Overview:
The origins of Landslög – Law Offices can be traced back to 1971. It has an extremely strong presence in Iceland and is among the largest and most respected firms in Iceland, providing its clientele with high level ‘one-stop’ legal services.

Main Areas of Practice:
■ Banking, Finance and Capital Markets
■ Mergers & Acquisitions
■Insurance and Tort
■ Data Protection
■ IT Law
■ Entertainment law
■ Competition/Antitrust & State Aid
■ Dispute Resolution - Litigation - Arbitration
■ Administrative
■ Restructuring & Insolvency
■ Construction and Real Estate
■ Zoning & Planning
■ Shipping

Banking, Finance & Capital Markets: 

■ In 2021 Landslog - Law Offices were legal advisors to Sýn hf. (Vodafone Iceland), which signed an agreement pertaining to the sale and leaseback of the company‘s passive mobile infrastructure to international investors.

■ Landslög were legal advisors to Arctic Fish in the company’s extremely successful private placement in 2021 with a total transaction size of approx. NOK 600 million. The company’s shares will be admitted to trading on the Euronext Growth stock market in Oslo.

■ Vidar Ludviksson, partner, handled the prospectus and legal issues in relation to Hagar hf.’s bond issuance in the amount of 8 bn ISK, i.e. around 53 million GBP, the first asset-backed bond issue in Iceland since the banking crash in 2008.

■ Aslaug Arnadottir, partner, was appointed by the Prime Minister to a working group assigned to write a new bill of law merging the Central Bank of Iceland and the Financial Supervisory Authority.

■ Johannes Bjarni Bjornsson, partner, assisted the car dealership Hekla (VW, Audi, Mitsubishi, Skoda) in the re-financing of their facilities.

■ Johannes Bjarni also lead a Government committee in discussions on whether and how the Government should participate in the refinancing of Icelandair, Iceland’s main airline, which was in need of assistance in the midst of the Covid19 pandemic.

Key Clients: The Icelandic Government, Islandsbanki, Financial Supervisory Authority, the Central Bank of Iceland, Hagar hf. (the largest retailer in Iceland, in groceries, household items and clothing)

Commercial, Corporate & M&A: 

■ Partner Áslaug Árnadóttir worked for Iceland’s third biggest retail chain Samkaup on their merger with parts of the retail chain Basko.

■ Partner Johannes Bjarni Bjornsson assisted shareholder of Hekla (the Audi, VW and Mitsubishi dealership in Iceland) in buying out a Danish Shareholder.

■ Partner Vidar Ludviksson is currently assisting Syn hf. (listed company, Vodafone Iceland) in negotiations on the sale and lease-back of Syn’s passive mobile phone infrastructure, which would be a landmark deal in Iceland.

Key Clients: Hagar hf., IPC (Iceland Prime Contractors), Syn hf. (Vodafone Iceland), the Icelandic Government and various ministries in Iceland, The National Power Company in Iceland (Landsvirkjun), Bauhaus, HB Grandi, Isavia airport and air traffic management, the National University Hospital, the University Lottery, Reykjavik and other municipalities.

Dispute Resolution:  

■ Landslög represent the Icelandic Housing Financing Fund in two cases before the Supreme Court of Iceland regarding the lawfulness of early repayment charges. The cases will be legal precedents for over 12,000 loans and pertain to payments over GBP 35 million.

■ Landslög were lead counsel in arbitration proceedings on behalf of Landsvirkjun (the National Power Company) vs. Elkem International for determination of power prices to a ferrosilicon plant in Iceland.

■ Landslög were counsel for the Icelandic Government in proceedings before the EFTA-Court involving funding of secondary schools in light of public procurement rules and state-aid.

■ Landslög were counsel for the Central Bank of Iceland in a high-profile case brought by Samherji (an international fishing company) for compensation of alleged losses due to an investigation of a potential violation of currency control rules.

■ Landslög handle the largest ever class action in Iceland (including 300 individuals), issued against the largest former shareholder of Landsbanki bank, which became insolvent in the banking crisis in 2008. The case, which is pending, is an absolute landmark case in Iceland.

■ Landslög act for the Icelandic Organisation of Mackerel Fisheries in a legal action against the Icelandic Government pertaining to the allocation of quotas on mackerel. This is a landmark case in Iceland.

■ Landslög assisted K2 Agency Limited (a U.K based artist agency) in collecting a claim owed by Solstice Productions ehf. to the world-renowned heavy metal band Slayer in relation to Slayer’s performance at the Secret Solstice Music Festival in Iceland. The claim inter alia pertained to legal principles related to “piercing the corporate veil”.

■ Landslög assisted Isavia in its dispute with Air Lease Corporation (ALC), USA, regarding Isavia impounding an ALC’s Airbus A320 aircraft at Keflavík airport as collateral against over ISK 2 billion debt owed in landing and flight handling fees.

■ Landslög represented around 100 apartment owners in proceedings issued against the seller of the apartments.

Key Clients: Icelandic Post and Telecom, Financial Surveillance Authority, the Central Bank of Iceland, QBE International Insurance Ltd., Isavia (airport and air traffic management), Islandsbanki, Icelandic Prime Contractors, Hagar hf., University Lottery.

Insurance: 

■ Vidar Ludviksson represents UK based insurers under D&O policies purchased by Landsbanki Islands hf. Landslög advise a large number of entities and individuals on all issues pertaining to insurance and tort.

EEA, Competition & State Aid: 

■ Jona Bjork Helgadottir, partner at Landslög, is a leading competition attorney in Iceland and former board-member of the Icelandic Competition Authority.

TMT & IP - Data Protection & IT: 

■ Landslög is a leading firm on issues pertaining to pro¬cessing of personal data and the EU Data Protection Directive. The firm is one of few that specialises in the field of IT related legal issues, IP, telecommunications, soft¬ware procurement contracts, electronic forensics, etc. Partner Hordur Helgi Helgason, (and Commissioner of the Icelandic Data Protection Authority 2013-14) is one of the leading experts in Iceland on data protection.

Accomplishments Include:  

■ Assistance to the country’s largest companies, governmental institutions and members of civil society in their ongoing compliance efforts regarding the GDPR, including the Directorate of Internal Revenue, and the country’s district magistrates, premier retailers, and The State Alcohol and Tobacco Company, in addition to smaller companies and public and private entities.

■ Hordur Helgi has drafted a number of privacy policies for domestic and foreign companies, e.g. to facilitate the establishing of web stores, in compliance with the GDPR and the local privacy legislation.

■ He also provided varied assistance to companies and institutions on needed changes of data processing needed in light of the COVID-19 epidemic.

■ With the stringent new domestic legislation implementing the 4th and 5th EU Anti-Money Laundering Directives, Landslög have established itself as the premier provider of legal services to companies needing to establish a coherent compliance regime.

■ As the implementation of the EU’s NIS-Directive into Icelandic law draws closer, Landslög are at the forefront of offering companies assistance in producing a rigorous regime for demonstration of compliance with the new law.

Key Clients: Advania, Iceland Post, Icelandic Data Protection Authority and others.

Real Estate & Construction: 

■ Landslög have advised on many of the largest construction and development projects in the country in the recent years, pertaining to dams, power plants, heavy industry plants, conference and concert halls, sports arenas and other projects.

■ Landslög have worked for IPC/IAV, who have been the largest contractor in Iceland for decades.

■ Hildur Yr Vidarsdottir, partner at Landslög and adjunct professor on real-estate transactions, also specialised in real-estate law. Over the past years she has tried dozens of legal disputes before the courts pertaining to real-estate transactions and has secured favourable outcomes for her clients.

Key Clients: Iceland Prime Contractors, Municipality of Reykjavik, Hafnarfjordur and Seltjarnarnes, SMI ehf.