4.8.2025

Castrén & Snellman welcomes leading mining and environmental law expert Tarja Pirinen as Partner, expanding its Environment, Energy & Green Transition service even further

Castrén & Snellman continues its strategic growth as a leading legal advisor in the green transition by inviting Tarja Pirinen – one of Finland’s most experienced legal advisers specialising in the mining industry and environmental law – to join the firm as a partner. In addition, a prominent environment and natural resources lawyer Fiiu Linninen will be joining the team as a senior associate.

Tarja Pirinen has over two decades of experience advising Finnish and international mining companies and their investors.

‘It is a great pleasure to welcome Tarja to our firm. The mining industry plays a central role in the green transition, tech, and defence, and has become strategically important for Finland and entire Europe. Tarja is an excellent addition to our already market-leading practice, and she further strengthens our ability to support our clients in their important projects. We strive to be the most client-centric law firm in the Finnish market and therefore want to respond to the clients’ increasing service needs in these sectors,’ says Jarno Tanhuanpää, Managing Partner of Castrén & Snellman.

Tarja Pirinen assists clients on mining, industrial, and infrastructure projects across all phases of the project lifecycle, including permitting processes, agreements related to the acquisition of rights, administrative proceedings, and commercial agreements as well as matters pertaining to nature conservation and environmental liabilities. She also advises on transactions and corporate and financing arrangements on the mining sector. In addition, she regularly assists clients with a broad range of legal issues related to exploration and mining operations. Tarja moves to her new role from HPP Attorneys, where she worked as a partner for 12 years.

‘With Tarja’s detailed understanding of the mining sector and her environmental law experience, our Environment, Energy & Green Transition practice brings together market-leading expertise and breadth in demanding industrial, energy, natural resources, and infrastructure projects. This makes us a strategic asset for our clients seeking proactive legal solutions and long-term collaboration partners. Tarja is widely recognised for her spark and unrivalled dedication, and her clear yet comprehensive advice. We are super excited to welcome her to our team,’ say Samuli Tarkiainen and Marius af Schultén, partners co-heading the Environment, Energy & Green Transition team.

‘Castrén & Snellman’s strong drive in the energy, green transition and industrial projects has not gone unnoticed. The firm has a clear direction and a strong commitment to serving clients’ evolving needs with agility and client centricity. Castrén & Snellman has a highly skilled Environment, Energy & Green Transition team. With a broad and in-depth expertise across the relevant speciality areas, the team is well-equipped to advise clients on complex environmental and regulatory issues related to their projects. Supported by the firm’s market-leading full-service experts covering all aspects of business law, we are now uniquely positioned to help our clients succeed in the changing business environment. I am excited to contribute to delivering strategic value to our clients as part of the firm’s long-term growth journey,’ Tarja Pirinen says.

Latest references

We successfully represented a Finnish construction management consultancy and a safety coordinator employed by the company in criminal proceedings concerning an alleged occupational safety and health offence. The prosecutor sought a penalty for an alleged breach of occupational safety regulations. The charge arose from a fall accident at a construction site where our client acted as the safety coordinator appointed by the developer. We assessed the scope of the safety coordinator’s duties in relation to the responsibilities of the main contractor, as well as how our client had fulfilled their obligations in practice. We demonstrated that our client had acted with due care and in full compliance with their duties throughout the planning, preparation and execution of the construction project. The District Court of Eastern Uusimaa dismissed the charge against our client. The Court held that our client, in their capacity as safety coordinator, had duly fulfilled the occupational safety obligations incumbent on the developer during the planning and preparation phases of the construction project and had not been aware of the fall protection deficiency identified at the site. The judgment is final insofar as our client is concerned.
Case published 22.6.2026
We advised Efima Oyj on the sale of its financial management services business to Rantalainen as part of its strategic focus on fully concentrating on the delivery of business applications as well as data and AI solutions. As a result of the transaction, customer contracts related to financial management services and 65 experts working in these services will transfer to Rantalainen. The transaction will be carried out as a transfer of business, and the experts will move to the new owner as existing employees. Efima is a Finnish digital company that supports the sustainable growth of large and mid-sized companies by streamlining their business processes and by creating competitive advantage through the innovative use of artificial intelligence and data. The company has nearly 200 experts based in Helsinki and Tampere.
Case published 12.6.2026
We advised lead investor Ugly Duckling Ventures on the EUR 6.5 million funding round of Skyfora. The round also included Eviny Ventures, LUMO Labs and EIC Fund, alongside non-dilutive funding from Business Finland. The investment will support the commercial scale-up of Skyfora’s weather intelligence solutions, the expansion of partnerships with telecom operators, forecasting providers and meteorological institutions, and the continued growth of the team. Skyfora is a Finnish company developing high-resolution weather data solutions using patented technology that extracts atmospheric data from GNSS receivers embedded in existing infrastructure, such as telecom networks. By unlocking previously untapped data sources, Skyfora enables the next generation of AI-driven weather forecasting and supports improved decision-making across weather-sensitive industries. Ugly Duckling Ventures is a Copenhagen-based venture capital firm focused on early-stage Nordic B2B technology companies, with an emphasis on medtech, resilience tech and business services.
Case published 10.6.2026
castren snellman general atlantic iceye
We advised General Atlantic as the lead investor on ICEYE’s EUR 1 billion series F funding round, valuing the company at over EUR 10 billion. ICEYE raised EUR 450 million (USD 520 million) in a primary Series F funding round led by General Atlantic. Additional investors included Solidium, Tesi, Varma, Ilmarinen, Lifeline Ventures, Nokia, Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) and TCV. Together with a secondary placement, the total fundraising exceeds EUR 1 billion. ICEYE is the world leader in sovereign intelligence from space, providing continuous monitoring capabilities to detect and respond to changes in any location on Earth. The company operates the world’s largest and most advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar satellite constellation. General Atlantic is a leading global investor with more than four and a half decades of experience providing capital and strategic support for over 885 companies throughout its history. As of March 31, 2026, General Atlantic manages approximately USD 126 billion in assets across its investment strategies. We advised General Atlantic on this transaction in collaboration with the international law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison.
Case published 9.6.2026