Legal Business

Euro elite: focus Baltics – All change

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Consolidation among the biggest players in the Baltic states has led to the creation of an elite tier of independent firms.

2015 was a significant year for the Baltic legal market, with rapid consolidation between firms in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania creating, as Sorainen’s co-managing partner Laimonas Skibarka describes it, a ‘Baltic Magic Circle’.

Rival firms Raidla Lejins & Norcous and Lawin confirmed they had traded their Estonian offices to form two new firms – Cobalt and Ellex. In late 2015, Cobalt acquired the Baltic offices of Finnish firm Borenius, taking its numbers to 31 partners and 176 lawyers. Ellex (technically three firms under one common brand) sits at 30 partners with 167 lawyers, keeping it in close competition with its rival.