1.10.2025

Jaakko Honkala, Lars Lindeman, Elina Marttala and Asta Salo promoted as Counsels 

Ensuring our clients’ success and safeguarding their legal rights is our business. To acknowledge their versatile expertise and dedicated work towards our clients’ success, we promote Senior Associates and Members of the Finnish Bar Jaakko Honkala, Lars Lindeman, Elina Marttala and Asta Salo as counsels as of 1 October 2025. 

Jaakko Honkala, counsel, International Construction & Projects

Jaakko Honkala is an experienced lawyer who specialises in dispute resolution and contract matters involving complex and technically demanding construction projects and other ventures.

Jaakko advises domestic and international clients throughout the entire lifecycle of their projects.

Lars Lindeman, counsel, Corporate Crime & Internal Investigations, Dispute Resolution

Lars Lindeman is an experienced attorney and Master of Laws with court training who specialises in criminal procedures and dispute resolution. He has wide-ranging expertise in challenging criminal trials and a deep understanding of internal investigations and the criminal process as a whole.

Lars has assisted our clients in a wide range of matters, including financial offences, trade secret criminal cases, employment offences, corruption cases, environmental offences, and data and communication offences. He assists both defendants and the injured parties. Lars has also advised and supported our clients in internal investigations relating to suspected irregularities and violations.

Elina Marttala, counsel, Real Estate Investments & Transactions

Elina Marttala is an expert in real estate investments and transactions with extensive experience in both domestic and international projects. She has a solid business understanding and a client-oriented perspective, which was boosted during her secondment at a real estate investment and development company.

Elina advises our clients on real estate transactions, development projects, lease agreement negotiations, sale and leaseback arrangements, and questions related to managing real estate properties.

Asta Salo, counsel, Data & Technology

Asta Salo is a versatile expert in data and technology with a special focus on matters related to data privacy and digitalization. Her extensive skillset is complemented by an academic background in computer science and mathematics as well as her experience working in the IT field.

Asta advises both domestic and international clients in complex assignments related to data privacy and technology.

Our warmest congratulations to Jaakko, Lars, Elina and Asta! 

Latest references

We delivered two AI workshops for Fortum Corporation’s Mergers and Acquisitions team, with both legal and business professionals participating. The sessions combined fundamental AI principles with custom use cases for commercially available AI tools tailored to Fortum’s needs. We also presented a bespoke solution merging AI with a script-based tool developed by our Legal Tech team, enabling a more automated way of working. Our experts conducted the training drawing on their legal background and leading experience in this emerging field of legal technology. Participants particularly appreciated the clarity and relevance of the implementations demonstrated. ‘C&S delivered an excellent, well-structured series of workshops, with directly applicable takeaways,’ says Sabina Hautaviita, Legal Counsel for M&A at Fortum.
Case published 9.3.2026
We successfully represented VR Group before the Supreme Court in a case concerning the meal break practice of commuter train drivers. On 6 February 2026, the Supreme Court ruled in VR’s favour (decision KKO:2026:12), confirming that VR had the right to amend the commuter train drivers’ meal break practice in 2021 by rendering the break unpaid in accordance with the applicable collective agreement. This decision clarifies the interpretation of collective agreements and employment legislation as well as the limits of the employer’s right to direct work. Over 250 commuter train drivers challenged the unpaid meal break practice which VR introduced in April 2021. Before the change, meal breaks had a long history of being paid. The change was based on the train drivers’ collective agreement, which allows for meal breaks to be organised either as paid or unpaid time. The Supreme Court ruled that the scheduling and managing of breaks falls within the core area of the employer’s right to direct work. This increases the threshold for an established practice becoming a binding condition for the parties. Merely following a practice consistently and over a long period of time does not make the practice binding; instead, the employer’s intent to commit to the practice must be clearly evident from the employer’s conduct or other circumstances. As both alternatives – paid and unpaid – for organising meal breaks had been retained in the collective agreement despite other amendments over the years, it could not be considered that VR had intended to commit to the paid break practice and waive its right to direct work as regards break scheduling. It was also significant that the employment contracts explicitly referred only to the collective agreement as regards working time. The Supreme Court deemed that the employees’ paid meal break was not an established term of employment and that VR was entitled to change the practice based on the collective agreement. The employer had the right, by virtue of its right to direct work, to unilaterally change the meal break practice by choosing to apply the other arrangement permitted by the collective agreement.
Case published 3.3.2026
We are assisting CapMan Growth in its significant investment in Kuntokeskus Liikku, a Finnish gym chain known for its high-quality self-service facilities and excellent value for money. The investment will further strengthen Liikku’s position as a market leader and support the continued execution of its growth strategy. Liikku is one of Finland’s leading fitness chains, with more than 70 locations across the country serving nearly 90,000 members. The company’s concept is to offer high-quality self-service gyms at an exceptionally competitive price point which, combined with strong operational efficiency, provides a solid foundation for profitable growth. The company’s main shareholder is COR Group, a long-time partner of CapMan Growth, and a Finnish health and wellness conglomerate known for active ownership and long-term value creation. CapMan Growth is a leading Finnish growth investor that makes significant investments in entrepreneur-led growth companies with a turnover of €10–200 million. CapMan Growth is part of CapMan, which is a leading Nordic private equity investor engaged in active value creation work. CapMan has been listed on the Helsinki Stock Exchange since 2001.
Case published 27.2.2026
Castrén & Snellman successfully assisted Terrafame Ltd in environmental and water management permit processes concerning the company’s entire operations and the KL1 side rock area, on which the Supreme Administrative Court issued its decision on 12 February 2026 (KHO 366/2026 and 367/2026). The changes made to the decisions of the Vaasa Administrative Court as a result of Terrafame’s appeals, enable the company to implement its new strategy and develop its operations as planned. The decisions of the Supreme Administrative Court brought the nearly ten-year-long permit process to a close.
Case published 20.2.2026