"Working with great people towards a common goal is exciting, but actually achieving them together, even if piece by piece, makes my role special."

I've been doing law for over thirteen years now since graduating from the University of Helsinki. Before graduation, I spent six months in 2006 as an analyst trainee at the investment banking division of J.P. Morgan in London working predominantly on Nordic M&A transactions. Back then, I eventually chose a career in law, but after about four years in practice I decided to give investment banking another try and arranged myself on secondment for another six months at J.P. Morgan in 2011. For me it was important to give investment banking another go, even if it was ultimately to find that I am more of a lawyer than a banker. Still, I do occasionally miss the "buzz" you can only find in London and in the fast-paced investment banking world.

Around the time that I shelved the idea of becoming a banker, I also found myself in discussions on joining Krogerus. Although I had good friends in the firm, and some that were about to join, what really intrigued me were the prospects of the firm: although Krogerus was already a large and established law firm at the time, it was still quite young and clearly entering a rather interesting phase of growth with a fair share of the market to grab. I very much preferred contributing towards building the leading law firm of the future and was convinced that Krogerus, with its people above all, had the full potential to become such firm.

So my career in the beginning was a bit bumpy, but I definitely feel that I've been on the right trajectory at Krogerus. As the head of our Capital Markets practice group I try to be easy to get along with and treat people well. It's both a privilege and great fun to have a motivated team of individuals who drive our practice and the firm forward in steps that are clearly measurable. I'd say that working with great people towards a common goal is exciting, but actually achieving them together, even if piece by piece, makes my role special.

As you can probably guess, the best thing about working at our firm is definitely the people, be it colleagues, clients or counterparties. We communicate a lot with people in this job, and I think that when you treat people as individuals rather than as strictly professionals, it also helps to get the job done.

I like that fact at Krogerus, we tend not to take ourselves too seriously. It makes everything else so much more tolerable. Conversely, the fact that we are tolerant makes everything else a lot less serious. I also like the international aspect of working at Krogerus, as a good chunk of what we do is international. I'm also active in the International Bar Association as an officer of the Securities Law Committee, and I'm grateful for the firm for supporting me in this role.

If I could give an aspiring lawyer a piece of advice, it would be: create networks, and be yourself. Plus, if something doesn't feel right, it oftentimes isn't.