Greetings from Alumni: Sami Niemi, NIAM — Ski Jumper or Business Lawyer?

When HS alumnus Sami Niemi was a law student, he was faced with the decision of whether to pursue a professional sports career as a ski jumper or embark on the path of business law as a lawyer. How did he make the decision, end up at HS, and further down the line at NIAM? Read on to find out.

Hi Sami, how has the spring been so far?

Spring is my favourite time of year, and I’ve been loving it this time around as well. While I usually ski, this March golf was the name of the game, thanks to the extra warm weather. Also, some exciting stuff at work, as we just came out with a new acquisition in Finland.

At Hannes Snellman, you worked in our Finance Team, how would you describe your HS career?

Pretty typical, I guess. At first, I tried to do as much as possible and after a while, I tried to do everything as effectively as possible, while also seeking opportunities to learn new stuff and helping around the team and the office. I was also very lucky with timing, as I got assigned with two secondments with an interesting client. As a summary, my career with HS was a learning curve from start to finish. Besides work, I met and got to spend time with the most interesting and lovely people with HS.

You now work as an associate at NIAM, what does your current job entail?

I am responsible for target level financings in Finland. In that area, my job is to source and structure financings for our acquisitions and development projects and manage our financings throughout their lifespan, including refinancings and exits. I also participate in acquisition processes with a wider approach and then I have an inhouse lawyer role in asset management and governance functions. At a daily level, it is a job where I get to think big and small, to meet people and to learn about the RE & financing market, and to draw some high-level sketches on power points while paying attention to detail with project and finance documents.

What are the key skills that you learned during your time at Hannes Snellman and that may now be of use to you in your current job?

There are of course plenty and, in general, everything that supports a structured and solution-oriented approach and a vision to focus on the essential and delivery is highly valuable. Yet, stories are the best. So, Henrik Mattson had this one client, and the client asked if we could have a look at one of their financing contracts. The client had its own ideas about how the terms and conditions were unbalanced, and eager as I was, I marked up the document with my comments and carried it for Henrik’s sign-off. Now, I don’t really recall what the document was all about, but it provided for some sort of a standard banking product. I of course now know that with such products there is not much to negotiate, as Henrik, being unimpressed after having reviewed my “brilliant” comments, handed the document back to me and said “tell them to switch banks if they don’t like the bank’s terms”. In all fairness, I don’t really remember the conversation word for word or what eventually got passed on to the client, but to me, as a young lawyer straight from school, it was an eye opener. Down the line, the realisation was that we get to, and we really should, use our brain and think a step further.

What career advice would you give to your younger self?

I have not really reflected on my career, yet. So, at this point my advice would, I guess, be “just keep on doing what you are doing and figure it out”. There’s comfort in there that at least for now everything has worked out just fine, and everything will be okay in the end. Oh, and to enjoy!

When you look back at your time at Hannes Snellman, what are your fondest memories?

We had pretty cool people in and involved with our team. Warm atmosphere, best fun, rock solid professionals. Day-to-day with our group was fantastic.

One final question. Hannes Snellman co-operates with the Päätös podcast, which focuses on decision-making. What do you consider the most important decision you have ever made, professionally or otherwise?

When I was in my final years of university, I realised that I need to choose between ski jumping and a business law career. I decided to end my sports career after my best season thus far. It did not gather much support at the time, but I do not regret it one bit. Otherwise, it seems impossible to single out one decision, so it must come down to approach. In that regard, I’ve decided to be prepared, think big, and to act decisively and with integrity.

Sami Niemi worked as a lawyer in Hannes Snellman’s Finance Team between 2019 and 2024.