Teamwork, combined with the highest standards of professionalism and exceptional expertise, is the crucial element central to ChampionX’s law department effectively and successfully managing the global requirements of the fast-moving, ever-changing oil and gas marketplace.

Whether they’re handling contracts, environmental matters, litigation, acquisitions and divestitures, intellectual property, public company reporting requirements, or global compliance, the law team plays a critical role in safeguarding ChampionX operations, enabling strategic growth, and maintaining regulatory excellence. More than just advisors, they are strategic partners – helping the business navigate complex industry challenges, protect its assets, and drive sustainable success.

Led by SVP, General Counsel & Secretary, Julia Wright, the department includes more than 45 employees from around the world. Among her senior reports are two key operations lawyers, Assistant General Counsel Karina Thisgaard, who oversees the Chemical Technologies (CT) business, and Linda Ludwig, who is Lead Counsel for Production & Automation Technologies (PAT).

Both have over 20 years of legal experience and joined the company around five years ago. Karina, who also sits on the CT leadership team, is an attorney and holds law degrees from the University of Copenhagen and the University of Houston, covering civil and common law jurisdictions, and has worked as a lawyer in both private practice and in-house leadership roles. With a career spanning three continents – Europe, Asia and North America – she brings deep expertise in the oil and gas sector and extensive international experience.

Karina highlights her team’s integral role in supporting the business and enabling success for their customers. “Serving as Assistant General Counsel and being involved in strategic and impactful decisions for the global business is really satisfying for me. I’ve never had a boring day at ChampionX because it’s complex and challenging, high paced and intense and, being a curious person, I love that.

“I see our team as a puzzle, and we are all individual pieces with a great diversity of thought between us, across both technical expertise and mindset, which is ideal because we serve a global company. I love leading our talented team and helping them grow and learn. Continuous improvement is part of our DNA, so we focus on training, and we have developed self-help tools and templates to empower our people to work more efficiently.”

Linda attended St. Mary’s University School of Law in San Antonio and has a business and finance degree from the University of Texas at Austin. Her diverse legal career includes working for large utility providers, oil and gas service providers, and technology organizations.

She provides robust solutions and legal support across all of PAT’s operational and commercial functions. As part of the PAT leadership team, she has been instrumental in helping meet strategic goals and implementing processes and tools to enable the business to have a lean support structure while mitigating risks.

“Although we have different roles and responsibilities, Julia, Karina and I work very collaboratively and encourage our teams to work closely with one another,” said Linda. “We don’t operate in silos; we’re one legal team working for one company.

“I work hard to continuously develop myself as a leader and to develop my team. It’s about understanding what individuals want to achieve in their careers and supporting them to find the best opportunities to develop their skills. Seeing my team set and meet their goals gives me a great sense of pride and accomplishment.”

Under Julia, the law department actively and continually seeks feedback on how it can improve its internal and external customer support, ensuring it contributes to the company’s overall goals.  She concluded: “We are here to help provide support and to look for ways to continuously improve our support, so it’s efficient and compliant.”