Our leading Restructuring & Insolvency service has made a major new hire, as insolvency law expert, Justice Mikko Könkkölä will join Castrén & Snellman as a senior advisor on 11 January 2021. Könkkölä has an extensive career as a judge and architect of Finnish insolvency law. Prior to joining Castrén & Snellman he served as the president of the Helsinki Court of Appeal for eleven years.
15.12.2020
Former President of the Helsinki Court of Appeal Mikko Könkkölä Joins Castrén & Snellman as Senior Advisor
Related services
Tags
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.
Latest news
Latest references
Finnish Construction Management Consultancy — District Court Dismisses charge in occupational safety offence case concerning a safety coordinator
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
Efima – Sale of financial management services business
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
Ugly Duckling Ventures – EUR 6.5 million funding round of Skyfora
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
General Atlantic – ICEYE’s EUR 1 Billion Series F Funding Round
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