Paula Aura

Director of Knowledge Management & Innovation

Contact details

I am in charge of knowledge management and innovation at Castrén & Snellman. I head our legal technology and legal design teams as well as our KM and translation functions, and as a member of our Management Group I take part in developing our firm’s business and strategy. I find motivation in the diverse tasks and challenges of my work.

I have extensive experience in integrating legal technology with legal practice. I lead our firm’s AI projects in which we pilot and roll out AI solutions that genuinely benefit our lawyers. With the AI revolution, change is faster than ever before. My main task is to ensure that our chosen legal technology solutions and new ways of working meet the demands of the evolving business environment and are successfully integrated into the lawyers’ work. As a change leader, I encourage innovation while ensuring that our development work continues to serve a practical purpose.

I am social by nature, and I thrive in our dynamic and forward-looking work community. I collaborate extensively with a wide range of people, both within and outside the firm. One of the most rewarding aspects of my work is to witness how my talented team excels in their work.

I obtained my law degree in 2004 and have since furthered my expertise with a qualification in legal informatics and a degree in project management. Before I joined C&S in 2007, I worked in the KM team of another large law firm for several years.

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My latest blogs

Blog Being a Part of the Legal Transformation at Castrén & Snellman

Blog Legal Technology Improves Efficiency – But Not by Itself

Blog Quality Contracts Faster than Ever – Kicking Our Services into High Gear with Automation

Latest references

Fraktal – Legal design of terms of service

We drafted and designed new terms of service for Fraktal Oy’s DevSecLab learning platform. In this legal design project, we created a new, clearer structure for the terms of service, rewrote the terms from scratch and presented them with a fresh visual look. The final result was a completely new product, not just a redesign of the earlier terms. Fraktal’s goal was to have terms of service that are easy to understand and simple to accept. The project was carried out in our multi-professional legal design team consisting of experts in legal technology, linguistics, graphic design and the law. The new terms, which are both clear and in line with Fraktal’s visual brand, were presented as an interactive prototype in Figma. The key to successful legal design projects is understanding the client’s needs and wishes. In this project, efficient project management and an open line of communication increased our team’s understanding of the client, resulting in a product that fits the purpose perfectly. Active dialogue with the client was an important quality factor in this agile and iterative project. “Our previous terms of service were difficult to understand, which usually led to lengthy negotiations. This created an obstacle for increasing sales. We believe that the new, designed terms of service will increase sales, make the agreement process faster and reduce the need for administration and constant negotiations,” says Iiro Uusitalo, product owner of DevSecLab. “Implementing the new terms is currently Fraktal’s top priority.” Founded in 2019, Fraktal Oy is a young and agile cyber security company. Fraktal has served organisations with hundreds of assignments across the continents. In 2021 the company had a turnover of EUR 2 million and employed 25 people.

Finnish P&C Insurance – Design of Insurance Terms

We carried out a legal design project in which we designed insurance terms for Finnish P&C Insurance Ltd according to the client’s wishes. Legal design is all about multi-professional dialogue and cooperation. In this project, our team included experts in legal technology, the Finnish language, graphic design and the law. In line with the principles of legal design, the process was agile and iterative. In the first phase of the project, we delivered a prototype for commentary. The comments we received from the client enabled us to better address the client’s goals. The visual appearance of the final product was based on the client’s wishes and graphical guidelines. We kept the end-user in mind when designing the insurance terms – after all, user-centricity, or taking the target group’s needs into account, is one of the main principles of legal design. In addition to a legal review of the insurance terms, the goals for this design project included clarifying the terms and cutting down on legalese. During the project, the client’s initial draft was completely transformed. The end result was insurance terms in a compact, practical and clear format. Finnish P&C Insurance Ltd is a modern Finnish non-life insurance company that provides customised insurance services for the brands POP Insurance and Savings Bank Insurance. The digital aspect of the company was key from its foundation in 2012. The company currently has over 170,000 customers and more than 100 employees. Finnish P&C Insurance Ltd is owned by the financially sound POP Bank Group.

Korona Invest – Sale of Innoflame

We advise Korona Invest and the other shareholders of Innoflame Oy on the sale of Innoflame to Sponsor Capital. The transaction makes Sponsor Capital the new majority owner of Innoflame. Korona Invest has been a shareholder of Innoflame since 2021 and, together with the other selling shareholders, has over the past five years supported the company’s growth, development and several strategically significant corporate transactions, through which Innoflame has strengthened its position as Finland’s leading product media company. The ownership change is intended to support Innoflame’s next phase of growth, including its ambition to build a significant European product media company with the capability to expand rapidly into new markets. The transaction is conditional to the customary closing conditions such as authority approvals. Innoflame is one of Finland’s leading product media specialists, helping its clients build a unified brand experience by offering the design, sourcing and management of product media as a single integrated service. Korona Invest is a Finnish private equity firm founded in 2006, specialising in buyout and growth investments in domestic small and medium-sized enterprises. It makes both majority and minority investments, structuring each project to suit the company’s growth strategy.

Marina Group – Acquisition of Iisiveneily and Porvoon Venekorjaamo

We advised Hopeasalmen Telakka Oy, part of Marina Group, on the acquisitions of Iisiveneily and Porvoon Venekorjaamo. The transactions form part of Marina Group’s expansion into the Finnish marina and boatyard sector, strengthening its position under the Quattro Marine brand. Following the acquisitions, Quattro Marine’s Finnish operations comprise Hopeasalmen Telakka, which operates boatyard facilities in Helsinki’s Mustikkamaa and in Tolkkinen, Porvoo, together with Iisiveneily and Porvoon Venekorjaamo. Marina Group is a Norwegian marina and boatyard consortium owned by the private equity sponsor Norvestor. It has grown rapidly through acquisitions to become the Nordic region’s largest boating services provider, having acquired 24 marinas and boatyards across Norway, Sweden and Finland within roughly a year.

Neste – A EUR 250 million 10-year loan with NIB

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.

Aspo – Demerger and finance matters

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.

Lenders and Export Credit Agencies – EUR 514.4 million green project financing for Easpring Finland New Materials’ CAM plant

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.

Delta Capacity – Acquisition of BESS Project

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.

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