Our business is to enable our clients’ success and ensure their legal protection. We stand committed by our customers’ side, helping them build a lasting advantage. To acknowledge their distinguished work towards our clients’ success, we promote nine of our experts to new roles.
We promote Anu Aaltonen as senior counsel and Freja Väyrynen and Lauri Ylönen as counsel. In addition, we promote four senior associate lawyers and two Business Services specialists. The promotions take effect today, 1 April 2026.
Anu Aaltonen, senior counsel, Competition & Procurement
Anu Aaltonen is an experienced competition law specialist with expertise spanning the entire field. She provides our clients with comprehensive and practical advice on all competition law issues, such as cartel investigations, dominance matters, self-assessments and M&A-related competition matters.
Her strategic thinking and ability to grasp the big picture have benefitted our clients even in the most challenging competition law matters, which is where her skills are particularly evident. This appointment is a testament to Anu’s strong expertise and her consistent and dedicated work for our clients.
Freja Väyrynen, counsel, Private Equity
Freja Väyrynen is an attorney specialising in private equity and fund-related matters, advising clients across the private equity lifecycle with a strong commercial and client-oriented approach.
She advises our clients on a broad range of assignments, including fund formation, fund investments and secondary transactions. Freja also regularly advises clients on private equity transactions.
Lauri Ylönen, counsel, Real Estate Investments & Transactions
Attorney Lauri Ylönen advises our clients broadly in both domestic and international real estate transactions as well as in other projects and arrangements related to real estate.
In addition to his work with real estate matters, Lauri is specialised in environmental law and has long‑standing experience in environmental law assignments.
New senior associates
Jonas Holm, Environment, Energy & Green Transition
Lotta Huhtamäki, Competition & Procurement
Juhana Hyytinen, Banking & Finance
Vilma Setälä, International Construction & Projects
Appointments in Business Services
Laura Pesonen, Legal Project Manager
Jonna Vainikainen, Data & Process Manager
Warm congratulations on your new roles, Anu, Freja, Lauri, Jonas, Lotta, Juhana, Vilma, Laura and Jonna!
Latest news
Latest references
NATO Innovation Fund – Kelluu’s EUR 15 million Series A funding round
We advised the NATO Innovation Fund as lead investor on Kelluu’s EUR 15 million Series A funding round, with participation from Keen Venture Partners, Gungnir Capital, and Tesi. Kelluu is a Finnish deep tech company operating the world’s largest autonomous airship fleet. We advised NIF on this transaction alongside global law firm Latham & Watkins.
Case published 17.4.2026
Nscale – Data centre project
Castrén & Snellman advised Nscale, a European AI infrastructure company, in connection with its planned data centre project in Harjavalta, Finland. The facility will be located in the Sievari industrial area. Castrén & Snellman’s advisory role encompassed the negotiation and execution of a site securing and development agreement (SSDA) with Fortum, as well as the preliminary land sale process for the Sievari site with the Town of Harjavalta. Under the SSDA, Fortum supports the advancement of Nscale’s project development, including grid connection design and permitting.
Case published 15.4.2026
Taaleri – Acquisition of a majority stake in Nordic Science Investments
We are acting as legal adviser to Taaleri Plc on its acquisition of a 51 per cent ownership stake in Nordic Science Investments Oy (NSI), marking Taaleri’s expansion into deeptech-driven venture capital. Through the transaction, Taaleri broadens its private equity offering into early-stage venture capital funds as well as the commercialisation and scaling of research-driven innovations. NSI is a Finnish venture capital fund manager operating across the Nordic and Baltic regions, focusing on early-stage investments in research- and science-based technologies. Its portfolio companies develop, among other things, health technologies, life sciences, advanced materials and AI-driven solutions. In addition to providing growth capital, NSI supports spin-out companies with strategic guidance, access to networks and assistance in building teams during the early phases of business development. NSI’s first fund, the EUR 45 million NSI Nordic Science I Ky, was established in 2024 and has to date invested in 22 early-stage companies in Finland, Sweden and the Baltic countries. Taaleri is a specialist in investments, private asset management and non-life insurance, with a strong position in renewable energy, bioindustry and housing investments as well as credit risk insurance. Taaleri has EUR 2.7 billion of assets under management in its private equity funds, co-investments and single-asset vehicles, employs approximately 130 people and is listed on Nasdaq Helsinki. The founders of NSI will continue in their operational roles following the transaction. The completion of the transaction is subject to approval by the FIN-FSA.
Case published 13.4.2026
Finnish Centre for Pensions – Information design workshop
We delivered two information design workshops for the legal department of the Finnish Centre for Pensions, with participants from both legal and other professional backgrounds. In the sessions, we applied the principles of legal design thinking to the Finnish Centre for Pensions’ field of operation and background materials, also utilising AI as a design tool. The participants found the tailored training highly useful and commended the trainers for their in-depth familiarisation with the Centre’s opinion drafting process and operating environment. As a result of the workshops, our experts proposed a new structural and linguistic model for the legal department of the Finnish Centre for Pensions for drafting opinions and guidelines. The proposal was well received as clear and applicable to the participants’ everyday work. In addition, we presented tailored AI use cases to support experts, allowing for a more efficient AI-assisted way of working. Our experts who delivered the workshops combined their legal expertise with their leading experience in legal design. The participants appreciated this versatile expertise, which enabled a knowledgeable, creative and applied approach to legal writing. ‘C&S created a well-structured training tailored to our needs, providing clear direction for our organisation and concrete takeaways for our experts in their day-to-day work,’ says Mari Kuunvalo, Head Of the Legal Department at the Finnish Centre for Pensions.
Case published 10.4.2026