C&S Strengthens Dispute and Technology Expertise – Ilona Karppinen and Kim Parviainen Appointed as Partners

‘Large shifts and megatrends, such as digitalisation, climate change and COVID-19 are giving rise to new kinds of disputes with no ready solutions. This is why we are further strengthening our expertise in these areas, in which we are already seeing and expect to continue to see growing demand. Ilona and Kim are both internationally distinguished lawyers in their respective fields’, says Managing Partner Sakari Lukinmaa.

Ilona advises clients in large-scale commercial disputes, for example, in the energy sector. She has particular expertise in disputes related to private enforcement of competition law, mergers and acquisitions and corporate liabilities. Kim is a renowned expert in the challenges digitalisation poses for companies, such as issues relating to intellectual property, technology and data protection, as well as related disputes. His specialities include regulatory issues in the digital space.

Ilona Karppinen: New Challenges Call for New Solutions to Disputes

Ilona has a long and eventful career at C&S, starting with her first position as a junior trainee at the firm. She helps our clients successfully resolve domestic and international commercial disputes in litigation, arbitration and authority investigations.

‘Ilona is a highly versatile and analytic lawyer. Her ability to grasp the essential and formulate the best strategy for our clients is outstanding. Ilona is role model for many younger lawyers’, says Partner Anders Forss, co-head of the firm’s Dispute Resolution service.

‘I am excited to take on an even more responsible role in the firm to help our clients. I strive to find innovative and business-driven solutions to our clients’ challenges. Risks are a natural part of business and they can actualise as disputes in any contractual relationship, but recently the COVID-19 crisis has hit certain industries particularly hard and impacted the implementation of large projects. Also cybersecurity threats, procurement of data systems and regulatory changes in certain industries pose new issues of liability and damages to our clients. I am interested to see whether the emerging international trend of ESG disputes relating to companies’ corporate responsibility and sustainability commitments will make its way to Finland’, Ilona says.

International organisations have played a major role in Ilona’s career. She is actively involved in the world’s largest lawyers’ professional organisation, the International Bar Association, where she has been an officer in the Litigation Committee.  In April, Ilona was ranked as a Rising Star by The Legal 500.

Kim Parviainen: A Comprehensive Understanding of Intellectual Property, Technology and Data Protection

Technology and data are everywhere and are becoming an ever more strategic issue for businesses. If anyone knows this, it is Kim Parviainen. He has assisted clients with intellectual property and digitalisation-related projects and disputes at C&S for over decade.

The head of C&S’s Intellectual Property service, Partner Sakari Salonen highlights Kim’s ability to serve as a ‘tech interpreter’ for senior management:

‘The importance of technology and intellectual property keeps growing in all industries. Tech- and IP-related contracts and disputes are becoming both more common and more demanding, especially when also considering ever-expanding regulation in the field. Our clients value Kim’s technical expertise and his understanding of the technological and business details of the projects he advises on. Kim is able to create significant added value just by serving as an interpreter between our clients’ management and technical experts. Kim is a highly respected expert among his colleagues and our clients.’

The regulation of technology concerns companies in a wide range of industries.

‘Tech and data are now being regulated from multiple directions. At the same time, digitalisation-related legal work increasingly requires an understanding of multiple fields of law and the interfaces between them. I try to provide our clients a comprehensive overview of these issues. I am thrilled to get to continue this work in a new role with clients and colleagues’, Kim says.

Among other projects, Kim has assisted CSC, the Finnish national IT Center for Science, in relation to the financing, hosting and consortium agreements for a major European supercomputer project. Kim also represents BMW in trade mark and design rights litigation as well as Google in data protection and privacy disputes in Finland. At the end of last year, Managing Intellectual Property IP Stars ranked Kim Parviainen as a Notable Practitioner.

Congratulations Ilona and Kim!