Euro Elite 2024: Nordics – Horizon scanning

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Euro Elite 2024: Nordics – Horizon scanning

With soaring interest rates, global instability, as well as political and economic insecurity both at home and abroad, the beginning of 2023 was a cautious and uncertain time for law firms across the Nordic region, particularly given the tumultuous year that was 2022. Nevertheless, the region has remained remarkably resilient to global pressures, with firms seeing 2024 as a year of opportunity, driven in part by weak local currencies in Sweden and Norway, developments in AI and ESG mandates, and a surprisingly active corporate space.

‘Like most lawyers, we were surprised at how good 2023 was,’ says Jan Dernestam, managing partner at Mannheimer Swartling. ‘We had to predict cautious budgets for 2023, but it’s looking like we’re up roughly 10% from 2022. This goes for most of the larger firms in Scandinavia.’ Overall, he notes: ‘It’s difficult to pick one area where we’ve been busy because we’ve been busy all over,’ despite the initially challenging market. Continue reading “Euro Elite 2024: Nordics – Horizon scanning”

Euro Elite 2023: Nordics – New challenges

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Euro Elite 2023: Nordics – New challenges

In an increasingly tumultuous market, the Nordic region has thus far remained resilient to pressures; as the Covid-19 pandemic begins to abate, new stressors, such as the war in Ukraine and global economic downturn are starting to affect investment and deal flow across Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland. With the countries’ proximity to Russia, and Finland and Sweden in the process of joining Nato, the political and economic situation doesn’t look like settling down anytime soon.

In Norway, Thommessen’s Sverre Tyrhaug states that despite the vicissitudes of global market forces and a drop in capital markets work, 2022 ‘turned out surprisingly well, we were busy and up in terms of turnover’. With regards to sectors, as with most countries in Europe, Norway is looking to increase energy security and Thommessen has seen an increase in renewables, as well as oil and gas, and hydrogen projects. As for 2023, Tyrhaug remains optimistic: ‘Lots of clients will put cost-cutting high on the agenda, especially due to increasing inflation. However, it will not necessarily be a bad year for lawyers; we expect consolidation in the tech, energy and renewables sector and a lot of M&A and distressed M&A work.’ Norway remains a stable legal market with indigenous, independent firms taking up the bulk of high-profile work. Continue reading “Euro Elite 2023: Nordics – New challenges”

Euro Elite Nordics: Complete package

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Euro Elite Nordics: Complete package

Across the Nordic region, the Covid-19 crisis meant firms faced challenges in terms of adapting to remote working requirements and new regulations. The early days of the pandemic saw a noticeable dip across the board in terms of new work coming into firms, and transactional activity slowed down, but despite the ongoing uncertainty, the market has proven resilient.

‘The Norwegian legal market has proven to be very robust with high growth over time,’ observes Thomas K. Svensen, managing partner of BAHR. ‘Despite an uncertain global situation, the strong and stable outlook for the Norwegian economy continues to attract activity which again fuels an already strong legal market.’ Continue reading “Euro Elite Nordics: Complete package”

Nordics: Northern Lights

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Nordics: Northern Lights

Much like the rest of the world, the Nordic market couldn’t escape the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic. However, the virus seemingly kept the Nordics in its periphery, while the rest of Europe felt the brunt of the impact. Average GDP across Norway, Sweden and Denmark in 2020 fell by roughly 3% (the wider EU GDP fell by 6.1%) with the biggest impact, unsurprisingly, on the tourism industry (Iceland, a nation heavily reliant on its tourism, saw a GDP drop of 6.6%). However, the predictions for 2021 show GDP growth across all three of the main Nordic countries, with 3.7%, 3.4% and 3% growth predicted respectively.

‘The Nordics have suffered less than many other European countries in the course of the pandemic,’ states Roschier’s managing partner Mikko Manner in Finland. ‘It has been forecast that during the second quarter of 2021, most restrictions will be eased due to vaccinations, and the Nordic economies will be able to start a swift recovery, with economic activity reaching pre-crisis levels later this year.’ Continue reading “Nordics: Northern Lights”