History

» Read also the overview of law firm SORAINEN's development through the eyes of its founder, Aku Sorainen.

  • 1991

    • In the autumn, Aku Sorainen starts writing his final thesis at the University of Lapland about business and foreign investment-related legislation in the Baltic States.

  • 1995

    • On 6 September, Aku Sorainen establishes law firm SORAINEN in Tallinn.

  • 1997

    • In August, SORAINEN opens its second office in Riga, Latvia.
    • In November, the first SORAINEN Legal Update is published covering current business law news in the Baltics.

  • 1999

    • In January, SORAINEN opens its third office in Vilnius, Lithuania, completing its pan-Baltic coverage.
    • In September, the first SORAINEN seminar on Baltic business law takes place.

  • 2001

    • Kestutis Adamonis in Lithuania and Kaido Loor in Estonia are invited to become the first partners of SORAINEN alongside founding partner Aku Sorainen.

  • 2002

    • Renata Beržanskienė is admitted as a partner with SORAINEN Lithuania.
    • The regional Quality Management Team is established to unify the firm’s regional work processes.
    • In June, Aku Sorainen is the first foreign lawyer to be admitted to the Bar Association of Estonia.

  • 2003

    • In October, SORAINEN advises its 300th mergers & acquisitions (M&A) case in the Baltics.

  • 2004

    • Pekka Puolakka and Toomas Prangli admitted as partners with SORAINEN Estonia and Agris Repšs admitted as partner with SORAINEN Latvia, increasing the number of partners to seven.
    • In April, law firm Petrovs & Taukač , the legal arm of KPMG in Latvia consisting of M&A and and tax specialists, joins SORAINEN Latvia.
    • In October, the number of SORAINEN lawyers reaches 50.

  • 2005

    • Karin Madisson is admitted as a partner with SORAINEN Estonia.
    • In September, SORAINEN celebrates its 10th anniversary with a regional conference on Baltic M&A and Post-Acquisition Corporate Practices.

  • 2006

    • Ģirts Rūda and Jānis Taukačs in Latvia and Laimonas Skibarka in Lithuania admitted as partners.
    • In March, SORAINEN becomes the first law firm in the Baltic region to implement a certified quality management system under ISO 9001 standards.
    • In August, the number of SORAINEN personnel reaches 100.

  • 2008

    • In March, SORAINEN opens a fourth office in Minsk, the first Baltic law firm to expand to Belarus.
    • Carri Ginter and Reimo Hammerberg in Estonia, Eva Berlaus in Latvia, Tomas Kontautas in Lithuania, and Kiryl Apanasevich and Maksim Salahub in Belarus increase the number of partners to 17.
    • The SORAINEN regional Knowledge Management Team is established to systemise know-how sharing across all offices.
    • In summer, the number of SORAINEN lawyers exceeds 100 and total SORAINEN personnel 150.
    • In the autumn, SORAINEN Baltic offices start legal blogging with major business newspapers: Äripaev in Estonia, Dienas bizness in Latvia and Verslo žinios in Lithuania.
    • In December, SORAINEN receives the “Baltic Legal Adviser of the Year” award at the European M&A Awards 2008 organised by The Financial Times & Mergermarket.

  • 2009

    • Kaupo Lepasepp admitted as a partner with SORAINEN Estonia.
    • In January, SORAINEN commended as the “Baltic Law Firm of the Year” at the PLC Which lawyer? Law Firm Awards.
    • In March, SORAINEN recognised as the “Baltic Law Firm of the Year” at the International Financial Law Review European Awards.
    • In May, SORAINEN Estonia awarded as the most employee- and family-friendly company in Estonia.
    • In December, SORAINEN Belarus becomes the first ISO-certified law firm, and among the first ISO-certified service firms, in Belarus.

  • 2010

    • Alexey Anischenko in Belarus, Algirdas Pekšys in Lithuania and Rūdolfs Eņģelis in Latvia increase the number of partners to 21.
    • In January, Pekka Puolakka is promoted to managing partner and Aku Sorainen, the founding partner of SORAINEN, becomes senior partner.
    • In March, SORAINEN received the “Baltic Law Firm of the Year” award at the International Financial Law Review European Awards for the second year in a row.
    • In May, SORAINEN recognised as the “Baltic States Tax Firm of the Year” at the International Tax Review European Tax Awards.
    • In May, SORAINEN commended as the "Baltic Law Firm of the Year" at the PLC Which lawyer? Law Firm Awards for the second year in a row.
    • SORAINEN awarded again as the most family-friendly company in Estonia.
    • In October SORAINEN was recognised in Estonia in the corporate social responsibility category of the Swedish Business Awards, a prominent project organised by Swedish Trade Council in cooperation with Swedish embassies and Swedbank in all Baltic countries.

    • 2011

    • In May, SORAINEN recognised as the “Baltic States Tax Firm of the Year” at the International Tax Review European Tax Awards second year in a row.
    • In June the Belarus Ministry of Justice awarded SORAINEN the title of "Best Provider of Legal Services in Belarus": SORAINEN is the only law firm from abroad ever to receive this kind of Ministry recognition.

Home About us History