Founding Partner’s Review of 2025

As I look back on 2025, one word captures the year better than any other: momentum.

Our clients moved decisively: expanding, acquiring, investing, building platforms, and navigating an increasingly complex regulatory environment. At TRUST, we matched that pace with a clear focus: deep expertise in our core areas, delivered through a lean, senior-led model that creates measurable efficiency for clients.

Cross-border M&A: from “important” to everyday

In 2025, the volume and complexity of cross-border work continued to grow. Something that has become characteristic both of our practice and of our clients’ ambitions.

TRUST’s partners draw from extensive experience in completed transactions, many of them cross-border. What once felt exceptional is now routine: multi-jurisdiction coordination, sector-specific insight, and pragmatic execution are no longer differentiators, they are the baseline.

Two transactions from the year illustrate this shift particularly well.

Cujo AI’s acquisition of Domos
We had the privilege of advising Cujo AI in a truly international technology transaction, working seamlessly with our Lexing Network colleague firm in Norway, Foyen. The transaction highlighted how cross-border coordination, sector fluency, and execution discipline are increasingly essential in technology-driven M&A.

Keesing’s platform acquisitions in Finland
Acting as legal counsel to Keesing Media Group across three successive acquisitions – Onni Kustannus (2023), Kolmiokirja, and Sanaris (2025) – demonstrated the value of continuity. One team, one playbook, and a shared strategic roadmap lead to faster execution, sharper focus, and stronger commercial alignment.

Technology, data and large-scale projects: execution is our edge

On the technology side, 2025 continued the trend of large ERP and CRM programs, alongside data, sourcing, and digital transformation mandates. Our long-standing work in this field is reflected in our recognition in Chambers’ technology sector context, noting TRUST’s involvement in dozens of CRM and ERP deliveries.

Many of these projects are multi-million-euro undertakings, characterised by complex governance structures, high commercial stakes, and the constant challenge of translating legal requirements into operational reality.

In parallel, we continued to support demanding regulatory and compliance engagements, including significant regulatory workstreams for Orange. These matters increasingly require counsel that combines legal rigour with operational practicality, particularly where technology, data, and sector-specific regulation intersect.

Growth: strong demand for focused boutiques

Our turnover developed very positively in 2025, reaching two-digit growth.

The reason is clear. Our growth is driven by an increasingly focused approach to what we do best: M&A, Technology, Data & Regulatory, Private Equity, and Real Estate, and by offering globally oriented regulatory capability to clients of all sizes.

The market is rewarding specialist boutiques that combine partner-level thinking with efficient delivery. This is exactly how we position TRUST: a focused firm with the ambition to be the market leader in small and mid-sized transactions, where speed, clarity, and business judgment matter as much as technical precision.

People: strengthening the diamond

We also took important steps as a team in 2025.

We were delighted to welcome Diana Esser as an Associate, strengthening our delivery capacity across transactions and technology and data-related matters.

We were equally pleased that Janne Järvenoja joined TRUST in a Counsel role, bringing extensive experience intechnology law, procurement, and compliance-intensive environments.

In June, we will welcomed back our trainee Pärttyli Rinne, adding sharp academic energy and a curious, structured mindset to our day-to-day work.

Our belief in a diamond-shaped organisation continues to guide us: senior experts close to the core, supported byfocused talent that enables quality and speed. The result is not only better legal work, but also cost efficiency for clients, by reducing waste, avoiding unnecessary iterations, and addressing the real issue early.

Leadership in our core practices

Our model is only as strong as the people leading it.

Sirkka Terho, as Head of our Real Estate practice, has played a central role in building a real estate and construction capability that combines deep market insight with deal execution and dispute readiness.

Topi Ruotsalainen, as Co-Head of our Technology Law practice, continues to strengthen our ability to advise clients across technology, IP, and privacy with a practical, business-first mindset.

A meaningful internal step: AI-supported work with Legora

2025 was also the year we took a significant operational step by adopting Legora to support our AI-enabled internal workflows.

For us, this is not about hype. It is about building repeatable quality, improving consistency, and freeing senior time for the judgment calls that truly require experience, while improving efficiency and turnaround times for our clients.

Looking ahead to 2026

We expect the trajectory to continue: more cross-border mandates, increased platform consolidation, and growingregulatory intensity.

Three concrete initiatives already underway:

• TRUST is organising one of the sessions at the IBA Annual Conference in Copenhagen (4–9 October 2026), focusing on digital regulation in the financial sector, an area where technology, compliance, and commercial reality are converging rapidly.
• Together with our colleagues in the Lexing Network, we have launched a book project on the EU AI Act, aimed at bringing structure and clarity to a topic that is quickly becoming board-level across industries.
• Our M&A Survey on the Finnish M&A market is ongoing and will be published in early February.

Closing thoughts

2025 reaffirmed what we set out to build at TRUST: a focused, senior-led firm operating at the intersection of transactions, technology, and regulation. Delivering not only legal correctness, but real business outcomes.

Our growth is not accidental. It is the result of a deliberate strategy: narrower focus, deeper expertise, and a delivery model designed for modern clients.

Thank you to our clients, colleagues, and partners for your trust. We are ready for what 2026 brings.

Jan Lindberg
Founding Partner
Attorneys at Law Trust Ltd.