2.3.2021

Eija Warma-Lehtinen Invited to Serve as Professor of Practice at University of Lapland

Castrén & Snellman Partner and Member of the Finnish Bar Association Eija Warma-Lehtinen has been invited to serve as a professor of practice at the University of Lapland.

‘I accept this professorship with a happy and curious mind. It is wonderful to return to the University of Lapland to teach and share my expertise with students and the faculty’, Eija said.

Eija will handle the professorship alongside her normal work. The duties of the professorship are to study the connections between law, data and technology.

‘The links between law, data and technology are extremely interesting and are at the heart of every organisation. Understanding these matters is vital for every law student’, Eija said.

‘I also hope to help build bridges between academia and the business world, so that academic expertise could be put to even better use in various organisations’, she continued.

Eija heads Castrén & Snellman’s Data Protection & Privacy service and co-heads the firm’s Compliance and & Investigations service.

She is a forerunner in the field of data protection in Finland. She has been ranked amongst Finland’s leading lawyers by a number of publications and has been listed as one of the top 100 technology influencers in Finland. Eija is also a respected lecturer.

She graduated from the Faculty of Law University of Lapland in 2004. In 2020, the University of Lapland named her Alumni of the Year.

People with professional merits and experience of particular significance from outside the academic world may be invited to the position of professor of practice.  The professorship is part time with a 20% workload and the appointment is until the end of 2022.

Eija is Castrén & Snellman’s second professor of practice. Tuomas Lehtinen, who is a partner in our International Construction & Projects service, is serving as Professor of Practice in Advocacy in the University of Helsinki for the period of 2018–2022.

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