DLA Piper has agreed a combination with 30-lawyer Finnish law firm Peltonen LMR as it expands its Nordic footprint.
The firm’s latest expansion sees 30 lawyers in Helsinki join its ranks. The addition means the firm’s pan-Nordic presence, with offices across Finland, Norway and Sweden, is home to over 200 lawyers.
Peltonen has strong local practices in banking, corporate, dispute resolution and IP. The firm counts Finland’s export credit agency Finnvera, the City of Helsinki and Nordea Bank as clients.
Peltonen was run by chairman Leif Itäinen, a corporate lawyer, and managing partner Johan Schmidt, a competition lawyer. Schmidt has a strong profile across the Nordic region due to his former role as vice president of Nokia Ventures Organization, a fund the mobile phone company used to develop new technology.
The firm has also rolled out integration plans, with the Nordic region forming part of DLA Piper’s EMEA practice led by co-managing directors Barbara van Hussen and Juan Picon.
DLA Piper global co-chief executive Simon Levine said: ‘As part of our vision to be the leading global business law firm, a key part of strategy is to operate in all the major world economies and other important markets where our clients are based or do business. Together, the Nordic countries rank as a G20 economic entity and the region is home to some major international corporates. Many of our existing clients do business in the Nordic region and we believe they will benefit from our enhanced presence there.’
Picon added: ‘We are excited at the prospect of being able to offer the market a true pan-Nordic capability. Frankly, we were surprised that no other firm has succeeded in developing such a capability and having talked to our clients and other institutions who operate across the region, we believe that the market will respond positively to what we are doing.’
tom.moore@legalease.co.uk
