16.4.2020

Top Rankings for Castrén & Snellman in the Legal 500 (2020): ‘Very effective and hardworking team’, ‘ Very fast and hands-on advice’ and ‘Talented and practical professionals’

The latest Legal 500 EMEA has ranked nine of Castrén & Snellman’s services in Tier 1 and two in Tier 2. The publication reviewed a total of 11 practice areas in Finland. The Legal 500 ranks law firms and lawyers throughout the world and is one of the most prestigious publications in our line of business.

The Legal 500 highlighted 11 C&S lawyers as Leading Lawyers in Finland: Anders Forss, Sari Hiltunen, Marko Hentunen (Hall of Fame), Merja Kivelä, Anna Kuusniemi-LaineNiklas LangenskiöldRickard Langenskiöld, Janne Lauha, Sakari SalonenTero TuomistoOuti Tähtinen and Matias Wallgren (Hall of fame Environment). Partners Benjamin Bade,  Jussi NieminenEija Warma-Lehtinen and Antti Kaakkola were ranked as Next Generation Partners.  Jerker Pitkänen, Sanna Alku and Anna-Maarit Laurila were ranked as Rising Stars.

What our clients say about us:

The rankings are largely based on interviews with clients. The publication had, for example, the following to say about our firm:

Banking & Finance: ‘High-quality services in all areas of banking and finance.’

‘Hardworking, business minded and fast.’

Dispute resolution: ‘Castrén & Snellman are well known and well respected, creative, and capable of putting together strong teams for international commercial arbitration. I would say that the firm is as good as it gets in the Finnish market.’

Capital markets: ‘Castrén’s capital markets team a has very pragmatic and hands-on attitude on assignments making co-operation easy to work. The team’s vast experience is reflected in its ability to respond quickly with solutions in complex special situations.’

Employment: ‘Castrén & Snellman has a very strong employment team with capabilities to handle any kind of employment law related assignment. In my opinion, they have the best team in Finland as regards co-operation negotiations, employment law related disputes and occupational safety related matters. When compared to other law firms, the employment team of C&S is more comprehensive, as to the head-count of lawyers and the quality of work they deliver.’

EU and Competition: ‘In addition to superior knowledge on different aspects of competition and public procurement legislation, the C&S team is on its own level when it comes to understanding the business strategies. Furthermore they have exceptional communication skills both orally and in written form to explain difficult legal matters in pragmatic and understandable way also to top management. When all this is combined with good price-quality balance they are clearly the best team in Finland.’

Real estate & Construction: ‘Full house services for real estate, excellent experience.’

‘Talented and practical professionals.’

For a more detailed look at the rankings, please visit the Legal 500 website.

Latest references

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