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On September 16, 2010, in Helsinki, Finland, the Finnish American Lawyers Association, FALA, met with FALA members in Helsinki Finland, spouses and friends, for cocktails and networking at the Marski Hotel. The USA members attending were Robert Alan Saasto, Esq, (President FALA), Ernest Saasto, Esq., and Benjamin Tuiskula, Esq. Ernest Saasto was enroute to Askala, near Porvoo, where his marriage to Tarja Koskela, the former pastor to the Finnish Churches in NYC, Baltimore and Washington DC, took place. Ben Tuiskula just recently left Sullivan and Cromwell, a major NYC law firm, to move to Finland to seek employment in Helsinki, in the corporate field. The FALA members attending from Helsinki were Johanna Lilja, Esq. (attorney specializing in pharmaceutical litigation with the Roschier Law Firm, the largest law firm in Helsinki); Sari Laitinen Esq., (US Legal Counsel and professor of Constitutional Law in Helsinki Law School); Pauliina Tenhunen, Esq. (bankruptcy attorney with Castren and Snellman, a major law firm in Helsinki); Esa Niinimaki, Esq. (formerly White and Case in Helsinki and presently with Nokia in their corporate legal department, specializing in patent violation lawsuits); and Jyrki Ant-Wuorinen Esq. (CEO, Plastex Co. in Helsinki) with his wife Maarit (Plastex). The meeting was planned to coincide with the arrival in Helsinki from Moscow of FALA Moscow representative Tomi Asanti, Esq. Tomi Asanti was a senior legal counsel at KONE, a large Finnish global company specializing in the construction and installation of elevators and escalators. He spent considerable time in US based law firms before becoming head of the Moscow office of the real estate investor Sponda Plc. Among other accomplishments in Russia, he authored a book on Doing Business in Russia which is currently available via the publisher Thomson West. On September 20, 2010, FALA members Juha Harsu, Esq. (recently retired Finnish Bank executive) and Robert Alan Saasto Esq. (President FALA), with his wife Mary Ellen, met for lunch with Heikki Palve, CEO, Chief Executive Officer, of the Finnish Medical Society, Suomen Laakariliitto. Heikki has appeared in the press and on television as the spokesman for the doctors in Finland, including interviews by the press regarding the recent doctors' strike which has been resolved. Heikki's son, Matias, is an attorney. He has only to complete his thesis to obtain his license to practice law. He is currently interning in the Law Offices of Robert Alan Saasto to broaden his perspective of American law and practices. He is also writing for legal publications articles about his experiences and the differences between laws in Finland and the USA.
Robert Alan Saasto, Esq. |
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