18.11.2022

Who’s Who Legal Awards 2022: Castrén & Snellman Law Firm of the Year in Finland

Who’s Who Legal has named Castrén & Snellman Finland’s Law Firm of the Year for the second year in a row. Who’s Who Legal announces awards for the leading firms in over 70 jurisdictions.

Each year Who’s Who Legal presents awards to the leading firms and individuals that have performed exceptionally well in their research. Twenty-eight of our practitioners received high individual rankings in various practice areas this year.

Global Elite Thought Leaders

Thought Leaders are those individuals who have performed exceptionally well in Who’s Who Legal’s research, with only a small proportion of those considered selected. Only around 2% of all nominees are selected as Global Elite Thought Leaders.

The Global Elite Thought Leaders at Castrén & Snellman are:

Pekka Jaatinen: Restructuring & Insolvency

Tomi Kemppainen: Labour & Employment

Matias Wallgren: Environment

Eija Warma-Lehtinen: Data – Data Privacy & Protection; Data – Data Security

Recommended and Global Leaders

Anders Forss: Arbitration; Commercial Litigation

Marko Hentunen: Arbitration; Commercial Litigation

Merja Kivelä: Capital Markets – Debt & Equity

Tuomas Lehtinen: Construction; Commercial Mediation

Uwe Uusitalo: Construction; Energy – Oil & Gas

Pekka Jaatinen: Corporate Governance

Vesa Rasinaho: Corporate Governance

Pauliina Tenhunen: Corporate Governance; Restructuring & Insolvency

Mikko Alakare: Corporate Tax – Advisory

Sari Laaksonen: Corporate Tax – Advisory

Eija Warma-Lehtinen: Data – Information Technology; Telecoms & Media

Pia Ek: Data – Data Security; Data – Data Privacy & Protection; Data – Information Technology; Telecoms & Media

Carola Lindholm: Energy – Power/Electricity

Samuli Tarkiainen: Energy – Power/Electricity

Matias Wallgren: Energy – Power/Electricity

Heidi Malmberg: Environment

Anna Kuusniemi-Laine: Government – Government Contracts

Johanna Lähde: Government – Government Contracts

Hanna Paloheimo: IP – Patents; Life Sciences – Regulatory; Life Sciences – Patent Litigation

Nina Mikander: IP – Trademarks

Sakari Salonen: IP – Trademarks; IP – Patents

Sanna Honkinen: Labour & Employment

Outi Tähtinen: Labour & Employment; Pensions & Benefits

Tomi KemppainenPensions & Benefits

Jan Örndahl: M&A

Niklas Langenskiöld: Transport – Shipping

Future Leaders – Partners

Jussi Nieminen: Competition

Future Leaders – Non-Partners

Jerker Pitkänen: Arbitration

 

See all the winners on the website of Who’s Who Legal: https://whoswholegal.com/

Who’s Who Legal identifies the foremost legal practitioners in multiple areas of business law every year. In total, the site features over 50,000 of the world’s leading private practice lawyers and 2,500 consulting experts from over 160 national jurisdictions.

Latest references

We advised Neste as it signed a EUR 250 million 10-year loan with NIB. The loan will finance Neste’s investments related to research and development (R&D) in processing lower-quality feedstocks into high-quality renewable products; as well as the liquefied waste plastics (LWP) investment at Neste’s refinery in Porvoo, Finland. The R&D activities supported by the loan focus on the development of renewable solutions. These include, for example, expanding feedstock capabilities and technologies that enable the processing of new and lower-quality waste and residues into high-quality renewable end products. Part of the financing supports Neste’s liquefied waste plastics investment in Porvoo, related to upgrading low-quality plastic waste into high-quality feedstock at an industrial scale. The investment contributes to advancing circular economy solutions by enabling the use of hard-to-recycle plastic waste as a replacement for virgin fossil raw materials. The unit has an annual capacity to process up to 150,000 tonnes of liquefied waste plastic. Production ramp-up commenced in 2026.
Case published 19.8.2026
We advised Aspo Plc, ESL Shipping Ltd and AtoBatC Shipping AB in relation to finance matters in connection with the demerger of Aspo, by which all the shares in ESL Shipping Ltd held by Aspo, together with the related assets and liabilities, will be transferred to a new independent company to be named ESL Shipping Group Plc. Aspo intends to apply for the shares of ESL Shipping Group to be admitted to trading on the regulated market of Nasdaq Helsinki. It is further intended that Aspo be renamed Telko Group Plc. 
Case published 19.8.2026
We acted as Finnish law legal adviser to the lenders and the export credit agencies in connection with the EUR 514.4 million green project financing for the development and construction of Easpring Finland New Materials Oy’s cathode active material (CAM) manufacturing plant in Kotka, Finland. The borrower, Easpring Finland New Materials Oy, is a joint venture owned by Beijing Easpring Material Technology, Finnish Minerals Group and LG Energy Solution. The financing was provided by six international commercial banks, with Société Générale acting as financial adviser and mandated lead arranger together with Natixis as co-mandated lead arranger, and DNB, ICBC, ING and Standard Chartered participating as lenders, with support from the export credit agencies Finnvera and Sinosure. The project represents a significant milestone for Finland and the European battery value chain by strengthening Europe’s domestic supply of cathode active materials, a key component in lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles and energy storage applications. Once the first phase of the project is operational, the Kotka facility is expected to produce approximately 60,000 tonnes of cathode active material annually, making it one of the largest CAM production plants in Europe and supplying leading battery manufacturers across Europe. 
Case published 21.7.2026
We acted as Finnish legal advisor to Delta Capacity in connection with its acquisition of the ready-to-build Karppio battery energy storage system (BESS) project from Helios Nordic Energy. The acquisition was made and the project will be implemented together with Strioga Family Foundation. The Karppio BESS project is located in Teuva, Finland, and has a capacity of 125 MW / 300 MWh. Delta Capacity will lead the remaining development of the project through to commissioning, planned for 2027, and will serve as long-term asset manager. Delta Capacity is a Swiss-based developer of utility scale battery storage systems. The acquisition adds to Delta Capacity’s growing Nordic portfolio. 
Case published 20.7.2026