Castrén & Snellman appoints Teemu Auressalmi and Hannu Huotilainen as Partners

Teemu and Hannu have both demonstrated exceptional expertise and a strong commitment to delivering the best outcomes for our clients. Their appointments strengthen two practise areas that are strategically important to our firm and ensure that we can continue to offer our clients market-leading capabilities in both dispute resolution and financial regulation, 

says Managing Partner Jarno Tanhuanpää.

Teemu Auressalmi: a top-tier dispute resolution expert

Teemu Auressalmi has worked in Castrén & Snellman’s award-winning Dispute Resolution team since 2018. He represents clients in international and domestic arbitration and litigation as well as in alternative dispute resolution proceedings.

During his career, Teemu has acted on many of the team’s most significant mandates, representing some of the largest, most complex disputes in the Finnish market. Teemu has extensive experience of disputes especially in the fields of insurance and reinsurance, construction, and mergers and acquisitions. For example, he recently successfully represented a panel of reinsurance companies in a high-stakes international ad hoc arbitration and has acted for both contractors and clients in large-scale construction litigations. Teemu also regularly represents both buyers and sellers in post-M&A disputes relating to purchase price adjustments and claims for breaches of warranties and indemnities, among others. In addition, Teemu has litigated and arbitrated various contractual and commercial disputes across a broad range of industry sectors.

Teemu has repeatedly demonstrated his ability to lead demanding and complex disputes, strong advocacy skills, and the ability to earn the trust of our clients. His expertise, leadership skills, and strong international network make him an excellent partner, and I am confident that Teemu will play a key role in the continued growth of our market leading practice, 

says Partner Anders Forss, co-head of Dispute Resolution at Castrén & Snellman.

Teemu has built an extensive international network among dispute resolution lawyers, speaks regularly at conferences on dispute resolution topics, and has been active in the international arbitration community, including past roles as a board member and chair of the Young Arbitration Club Finland.

Hannu Huotilainen: a specialist in financial sector regulation

Hannu Huotilainen specialises in complex legal and regulatory matters across the financial sector, with a particular focus on the asset management and banking sectors as well as general securities market regulation. He also has in-depth experience of capital markets transactions. Hannu has co-headed Castrén & Snellman’s Financial Regulation practice since 2025.

Hannu is known among clients for his ability to provide clear, commercially valuable solutions to challenging and demanding legal issues. During his career, Hannu has advised domestic and international clients on a broad range of regulatory and transactional assignments in the financial sector, including regulatory licensing processes, structuring of new regulated products and business models, regulated M&A transactions, various co-operation, distribution and outsourcing arrangements, fund structuring and formation projects, as well as issuances of regulated bank capital instruments and other securities. He has also contributed to national legislative initiatives in the financial sector.

As the regulatory environment continues to grow in volume and complexity, Hannu helps financial sector clients anticipate future regulatory changes and adapt their strategic planning accordingly.

I am delighted to continue working with Hannu, now also as a partner colleague. Hannu’s deep regulatory expertise and his ability to create real value for our clients have made him an indispensable advisor to financial sector players. He helps clients achieve their commercial objectives while meeting their increasingly challenging regulatory obligations. Hannu’s appointment is a clear testament to our firm’s commitment to fostering the kind of deep, specialised expertise in complex financial regulation for which we are known, 

says Janne Lauha, Partner at Castrén & Snellman.

Hannu brings an unusually broad background within the financial sector, having worked both at regulated entities and the supervisor (the Finnish Financial Supervisory Authority) before joining Castrén & Snellman in 2014.