General counsel | ReOrbit
Tommi Mustonen
General counsel | ReOrbit
What are the projects that you are most proud of working on over the past 12 months?
In just one year, I have managed to build the entire legal function of a space technology company doing global business from scratch, while also providing effective legal support (including contract drafting and negotiation) for business-critical commercial deals.
How do you approach managing legal aspects during periods of instability or crisis to ensure the organisation’s resilience?
With very limited internal and external legal resources, the key is strict prioritisation and anticipating any future progress of the company, taking into consideration the relative importance of each particular matter to the business and applying a risk-based approach. In both of these, I have been lucky enough to leverage my over 25 years of experience in international/global technology business. In a tech startup like ours, there is constantly a need to put out fires, which accentuates the need to prioritise.
What do you derive the most satisfaction from in your work?
For me, concluding strategic business deals of major importance to the company’s strategy is the most satisfying part of my work. Our company intends to become a unicorn in the global newspace industry soon, and concluding such deals is a must on the path to achieving that!
Have you had any experiences during your career as a lawyer that stand out as particularly unique or interesting?
In the past, I was once negotiating a major business deal of strategic importance with a governmental entity at an exotic location. Very soon, I realised that the legal advisor of the customer had absolutely no understanding of contract law or the law in general! I found out that he did not even have any formal legal education; he was a brigadier from another country who had been placed in such a role purely as a personal favour from his superiors. I had to negotiate based on the customer’s purchase contract template, and whenever he didn’t like or understand my proposed changes, he simply said no, with no reasoning, explanation, or counterproposal. So, I had to do a lot of guessing to figure out why and to find something that he could find acceptable with my explanations on the matter. In fact, I also had to teach him the basics of contract law while negotiating, and all in very polite terms. In such a situation, I could not expect to change too much in the template; I just had to concentrate on the most critical aspects.
What is a cause, business or otherwise, that you are passionate about?
I have worked in defence and security-related industries for close to two decades, and being a part of supporting national defence and international security is close to my heart. Finland has a long history of challenges related to its surrounding areas, and these challenges are far from over. This is why these matters remain very acute today. Finland has continuously been rated as the happiest country in the world by the World Happiness Report, sponsored by the UN, and keeping it that way in a turbulent world is something that needs (and deserves) defending. An important part of my current company’s business activities is providing space satellites for critical communication by defence and security authorities in various countries, and by enabling such business, I can make my own positive contribution to safety and security.