Castrén & Snellman

At Castrén & Snellman, we strive to be the best workplace in the legal sector. Our people are our greatest asset. By looking after each other, we ensure the best possible quality for our clients.

To us equal treatment and opportunities are self-evident. We do not accept any form of discrimination, be it based on gender, age, nationality, religion, sexual orientation or any other similar basis. We are committed to the UN Global Compact initiative and the promotion of human rights and labour rights.

Our diversity objectives are

• to recruit, retain and respect a heterogeneous group of employees
• to create an atmosphere that values diversity and allows everyone to shine
• to leverage our employees' existing expertise and resources as extensively and efficiently as possible
• to develop the creativity, problem-solving abilities and agility of our organisation
• to improve minority experience at the workplace.

Ensuring impact through employee engagement

To make sure that our diversity efforts have an impact, we ensure that they are grounded on the characteristics and context of our workplace. We engage our personnel in the preparation of our diversity programme, which we review annually based on our equality survey and employee feedack. The programme is prepared by an internal Diversity Working Group comprised of colleagues from different teams. It is reviewed and approved by our Personnel Advisory Board, which consists of elected members of our staff. Finally, our management team signs off on the programme.

Our initiatives

• Gender equality: We support women’s partnership through training and mentoring, focusing especially on commercial skills. We encourage equal responsibility for childcare, and we have principles and practices to help employees balance the demands of career and family. Employees returning from parental leave can participate in our award-winning peer mentoring programme.
• Young people: It is a point of pride for us to take part in training tomorrow's lawyers and other professionals. We employ approx. 100 students through our traineeship programmes every year. We act beyond the limits of our firm to build interest in law studies among young people from underrepresented backgrounds.
• Senior colleagues: Our senior employees have vast experience of our business and are invaluable assets for our firm. We support senior colleagues through career continuation planning and enhanced occupational health services.
• LGBTI inclusion: We believe that creating a more inclusive working environment for the LGBTI minorities is the responsibility of the majority. We continuously develop our workplace with inclusivity in mind.
• Mental health: We aim to raise awareness about mental health and equip our personnel with tools to enhance their mental well-being. We offer preventive, low-threshold mental health support as part of our comprehensive occupational health services.

Performance and recognition

• Workplace atmosphere: In our annual equality survey, most employees agree that the atmosphere at our workplace supports the expression of minority identities, with an upward trend since 2021.
• Strong sense of inclusion: In 2024, we came out as the most inclusive employer among seven Finnish organisations surveyed. Employees who identified themselves as belonging to a minority reported a particularly strong sense of inclusion.
• Equal pay: We monitor the equality of pay through a survey carried out by an external expert, which confirms that we pay women and men the same salary for the same work.
• Awards: We have received multiple awards in the Women in Business Law EMEA contest, including the award of the Scandinavian Firm of the Year from 2021 to 2023 and the Diverse Women Lawyers National Firm in 2023 and 2024. Finnish law students have ranked us as the most attractive private-sector employer from 2008 to 2024.