A Language Wizard Picking up the Tricks of the Legal Trade
'Dynamic, always up for challenges, groovy — definitely not a shrinking violet.'
This is how Aksu Tuominen describes Castrén & Snellman's five-person translation team, of which he is a member.
Having originally graduated with a Master of Arts degree, six years ago Aksu decided to return to university and began to study at the Faculty of Law. In the same year, he joined C&S as an information service trainee. Before long, he found himself spending most of his time on legal translations.
'Working as a translator at C&S is fun, interesting and fascinating. I've been able to study alongside my work, and now my legal degree is finally close to completion. In the future, I see myself in a job where I can draw from both my legal skills and my expertise as a translator. I'll never be an ordinary lawyer,' says Aksu with a laugh.
In the office, Aksu is the go-to guy for anything related to Finnish, and he translates mostly from English into Finnish. The translation group works with both the firm's lawyers and administration. In line with his personal interests, Aksu specialises in translations related to C&S's Capital Markets expertise area. Capital markets are also the topic of his Master's thesis, which he is currently working on.
'It's quite rewarding to open the business section of the newspaper in the morning and realise that you have been involved in many of the news items. We translators have an excellent view of what's going on in Finland and abroad. Our assignments touch upon all kinds of topics: environmental law, medicine, patents, prospectuses, arbitration procedures, and so on. "Continuous learning" is a phrase that really applies to this job.'
Over the past years, the translation group's services have expanded and developed. When Aksu first joined C&S, translation work was spread around the office. Those were the old days: today, C&S has a head start on other law firms with regard to translation services.
'We have a big, stable team and established processes. Our clients benefit from this as well. Internally, the translation service is absolutely vital. C&S has vast assignments, many of them urgent. Translating the texts in-house saves time and energy, and helps avoid stress.'
Always good-humoured, Aksu was voted Employee of the Year by the C&S staff in 2009. To Aksu, C&S's values provide the basis of good relationships among colleagues.
'As long as you live up to our values in the workplace, you'll do fine. Inspiration, cheerfulness and energy are essential when working together. We all have different personalities, and that can show in our work. You could say that the office teaches you how to be a pretty nice person.'
Senior Counsel Jouko Huhtala | Translator Aksu Tuominen | Office Manager, St Petersburg Anna Medvedeva | Senior Associate Mikko Huimala | Information Service Trainee Laura Laitinen