Former President of the Helsinki Court of Appeal Mikko Könkkölä Joins Castrén & Snellman as Senior Advisor

Mikko Könkkölä has served in high offices in the judiciary for nearly two decades: first as a member and justice of the Supreme Court and later as the president of the Vaasa and Helsinki courts of appeal. Könkkölä has worked as a law drafter for over 25 years, including as the director of legislative affairs at the Ministry of Justice, being responsible for the drafting of laws in the field of private law.

Many lawyers also know Könkkölä for his achievements in the field of insolvency law, where he has led many key projects, including chairing the Bankruptcy Act committee. Könkkölä has also participated in the drafting of  EU insolvency law. Last spring, he and co-author Tuula Linna completed the second edition of Konkurssioikeus, which is considered one of the foundational texts of Finnish insolvency law.

Our Insolvency service is expecting the coming spring to be a busy one. Many of the efforts to mitigate the financial impacts of the pandemic have mainly delayed acute cash shortages without actually lightening companies’ liabilities. Many debtors and creditors are weighing voluntary debt arrangements, restructurings proceedings or even bankruptcy.

‘I am very happy to have Mikko on our team to help our clients in their insolvency law issues. These kind of career shifts are rare in Finland, but more common globally. As forerunners in our field, it was natural for us to seize this opportunity to bring such a top expert in the field on board. Mikko’s experience and expertise will be of great value, for example, in demanding trials. He will bring new insights into trial strategy and into how different financing arrangements should be handled from the perspective of insolvency law’, said partner and head of our Restructuring & Insolvency service Pauliina Tenhunen.

Mikko Könkkölä is looking forward to starting a new path in his long and varied career.

It is exciting to start a new career in a new environment on the other side of the table. The shift to a law firm is mentally easy. After all, alongside the judiciary, high-quality legal representation is one of the most important guarantees of the rule of law. I believe that I will be able to deepen the expertise of the firm’s teams, particularly with respect to insolvency law and dispute resolution’, Könkkölä said.