Irina Fodchenko

Irina is a dual-qualified industry lawyer with 15 years' experience across multiple legal systems and business cultures. Her principal areas of work include oil and gas, renewable energy, ESG, and compliance advisory. She is part of the Energy, Shipping & Infrastructure Group and the Corporate Compliance Group.

Her expertise includes international trade sanctions and export control assessments, integrity due diligence, and beneficial ownership investigations. She advises on anti-corruption, anti-money laundering, human rights, and ESG matters. Irina is regularly involved in the development of tailored compliance programs, supply chain risk analysis under the Norwegian Transparency Act, EU taxonomy assessments, and sustainability reporting.

Irina has extensive experience advising Norwegian and international energy companies across the oil and gas, CCS, and mining sectors. She is also actively engaged in renewable energy projects, including offshore wind, solar energy, and hydrogen. Her practice covers all aspects of regulatory and contractual matters, from exploration to abandonment phases, M&A transactions, and cross-border joint ventures.

Prior to joining Schjødt in 2019, Irina worked as in-house legal counsel at a major energy producer. She has also held positions as a PhD fellow and research assistant at the Scandinavian Institute of Maritime Law, University of Oslo and was engaged as a senior policy analyst by the Fridtjof Nansen Institute.

Irina completed two law degrees in parallel in Norway and Russia and is admitted to practice in both jurisdictions. She holds a PhD in petroleum and comparative law from the University of Oslo and regularly serves as a supervisor and examiner in company law, conflict management and maritime law contracts.

Irina is in charge of Schjødt’s pro bono helpline for refugees from Ukraine to Norway.

She speaks Norwegian, English, Ukrainian, and Russian.