Hannes Snellman Strengthens Its Competition Practice with a Leading International Competition Law Expert as Maria Wasastjerna Joins as Partner and Co-Head

Maria Wasastjerna and Mikko Huimala.

Maria Wasastjerna, a widely recognised competition law expert in Finland and across Europe, joins Hannes Snellman from Nokia Corporation, where she currently works as competition law lead counsel in the company’s Legal & Compliance team. 

Maria is in her current role, at Nokia, responsible for competition law and policy matters globally, managing the group-wide competition compliance programme and advising on all areas of competition law, including transactional and compliance-related matters, and managing regulatory investigations with competition authorities. 

In addition to Maria’s background at Nokia, she holds in-house counsel experience from other corporations and has worked in private practice in local and international law firms as well as competition authorities abroad. 

Alongside her work, Maria is finalising her PhD at the University of Helsinki, also conducting research at the University of Oxford. Her doctoral thesis addresses competition law in the digital economy, in particular the role of data and privacy in digital markets. Maria is also a regular speaker at international competition law conferences and has published several articles in leading journals.

“Maria has broad and unique, corporate and international experience, which we trust will be a great benefit to our clients. We are delighted to welcome her to both our partnership and our highly skilled cross-border Competition & Procurement team”, says Riikka Rannikko, Managing Partner in Helsinki.

“Our clients demand to-the-point strategic advice in competition matters, combined with a deep understanding of business reality. Maria’s versatile experience will further bolster the competitive advantages of our service delivery”, says Mikko Huimala, Partner and Co-Head of Competition & Procurement in Helsinki.

“I am thrilled to become a partner at Hannes Snellman and to further develop its Competition & Procurement team. It is exciting to return to private practice with my experience and insight as in-house counsel and to get the opportunity to support Hannes Snellman's current and future clients in navigating in the rapidly changing world of competition law”, says Maria Wasastjerna.

For further information, please contact:

Riikka Rannikko, Managing Partner, Helsinki,
Mobile: +358 40 731 1611, riikka.rannikko@hannessnellman.com

Mikko Huimala, Partner, Competition & Procurement,
Mobile: +358 44 530 07 53, mikko.huimala@hannessnellman.com 

Maria Wasastjerna, Mobile: +358 40 5951441