Careers

Summer School 2019


Win-Win Situation

In 2019, the topic of Hannes Snellman Summer School was Win-Win Situation, and the event revolved around the lifespan of commercial contracts – from drafting and negotiating their terms and conditions to avoiding and resolving disputes arising from them.

In addition to multiple workshops, the event featured lectures and discussions by practitioners from the legal and corporate world as well as networking with experienced experts and other law students. The 2019 Summer School took place at our Helsinki office in Finland between 22 and 23 August.

 


Greetings from Summer School 2019: Win-Win Situation

The first day of Hannes Snellman Summer School 2019 was opened by Managing Partner Riikka Rannikko, who welcomed the Finnish and Swedish students to the event. Before diving into the first lecture of the day, the Summer School group had an easy start: they had a lunch together and got to know each other. This year, the Summer School group consisted of almost 30 law students from eight different universities in Finland and Sweden, and of over 20 hosts from both Finland and Sweden.


Our Managing Partner Riikka Rannikko welcoming all students and hosts to the Hannes Snellman Summer School 2019.

Since the theme of this year’s Summer School was Contracts & Negotiations, the Summer School’s first lecture, which was held by Specialist Partner Jenny Lundberg, gave an introduction into the world of contracts. The programme then continued with a panel discussion moderated by Associate Emma Swahne, who interviewed Lead Counsel Tuomo Heikkinen (a visiting speaker from Stora Enso), Hannes Snellman’s Specialist Partner Jenny Lundberg, Senior Associate Sarita Schröder, and Partner Tapio Teräkivi on contracts on a more practical level. The discussion covered topics such as drafting, teamwork, lawyers’ roles, internationality, and communication with clients, opposing parties, consultants, etc.


Panel Discussion: Contracts in Practice.

The panel discussion was followed by a short coffee break, after which it was time to move on to the first workshop: The Art of Drafting. As the name of the workshop suggests, in this first workshop, the participants got to practise contract drafting together in teams with the guidance of Hannes’s hosts. The workshop was wrapped up in the afternoon by Associates Anna Bergström and Sofia Bengtsson, after which it was time for a little break before a laid-back pizza and wine dinner.

In the morning of Day 2 of the Summer School, the participants were woken up with a not-so-nice surprise as it was raining heavily and the streets of Helsinki were flooding. Luckily though, the accommodation was not too far away, and the first lecturer of the day, General Counsel Tiina Lencioni from Marimekko, brought some interesting new insights into contracts from the business world.


Marimekko's Tiina Lencioni telling war stories from the business world.

Next, it was time to move on to negotiations. Hannes Snellman’s very own negotiation expert, Partner Sten Olsson, led the participants into this new topic with various different theories, examples, and practices before Associates Netta Pitkämäki, Minja Jantunen, and Laura Sainio introduced the second workshop: A Game of Negotiations. During this workshop, student teams came up with negotiation strategies and put those strategies into practice by negotiating against the other teams.

In the afternoon, Partner Martin Rifall lectured on dispute avoidance, after which it was time for the final workshop, Damage Control, hosted by Associates Hanna Puranen and Jessica Tressfeldt. The official programme of Day 2 was finished with a lecture on the future of contracts as Associate Emma Swahne envisioned what contracts in the future may look like and what kind of elements they may include.


One of the many workshops of Summer School 2019.

In the evening, the whole Summer School group gathered together to enjoy a nice dinner and to mingle at Hannes Snellman’s office. The night and the 2019 Summer School was closed in a very typical Finnish way, by singing karaoke until the early morning hours.