Chastine Elisa Christensen

Attorney, Dispute Resolution

It was not on the cards that Chastine should be a litigator. But curiosity about the lawyer profession led her to apply for a position in the Dispute Resolution group when she began as assistant attorney with Gorrissen Federspiel. She has not regretted this decision.

I’m an attorney in our Dispute Resolution group, where I work with preparation and execution of large and complex litigation and arbitration cases. One of the things that I find extremely interesting about my job as a litigator is that you deal with many different areas of the law, because it’s not a classic practice area

It wasn’t on the cards that I should be a litigator. But it was important for me to gain experience in the lawyer profession, and I therefore applied for a position in the Dispute Resolution group when I changed my title as law student to assistant attorney. I was completely hooked on the work of preparing court cases, which I had thought was a little tedious and required more patience than I have by nature – but this is far from being the case.

The cases are rarely alike, and I’ve been involved in litigation concerning everything from offshore drilling rigs to IT systems, purchase and sale of companies, securities law issues, insurance cases and much more. This also means that I get to work with people with completely different backgrounds and qualifications, which is a great inspiration to me.

The work itself varies greatly. Depending on where we are in the process, the days are spent on preparing pleadings on different issues, talking to witnesses, experts or advisers on all aspects of the case. If we are in the middle of a hearing, it, of course, involves going to court.

Due to the magnitude of the cases, we often work in large teams, and the cooperation with my colleagues and the special team spirit are two things that I truly value in my work.