Estonian law firm Lextal, Latvian law firm RER Lextal, and Lithuanian law firm ILAW Lextal have unveiled their new name and identity: Widen, "a Baltic law firm that sees itself as the Legal Jazz Company."

Former Alterna Partner Annika Vait has joined Rask as a Partner and Co-Head of the firm's Business Consulting and Transactions department.

Walless and Fort have announced their agreement to merge their Estonian operations under the Walless brand, while Walless will also strengthen its operational capacities in Latvia with the addition of the Fort Latvia litigation team.

Did you know that the CEE Q1 leaderboards are available through the Activity Rankings function of the CEELMDirect website?

TGS Baltic has advised Estonian energy company Soldera on launching the first renewable energy certificate of origin management platform in Estonia.

Former Senior Associate Liis Konn has been promoted to a Partner position with Ellex in Estonia. In her new role, she will co-lead the Dispute Resolution practice at the firm.

Lextal, working alongside Finnish Dittmar & Indrenius, has advised Dasos Capital on its sale of a forest asset portfolio to Ingka Investments.

Tallinn's Rask law firm has announced it signed a strategic cooperation agreement with environmental consulting firm Hendrikson DGE to offer the best possible service to clients based on a "unique combination of information and experience [resulting from] the daily interaction of our specialists."

Did you know that the early 2024 deal leaderboards are already available via the Activity Rankings function of the CEELMDirect website?

TGS Baltic, working with Cederquist, has advised Kinnevik on the sale of its entire holding in Tele2 to Freya Investissement for a total of SEK 13 billion.

Finnish Hameenlinna Administrative Court made a historic resolution on 22.02.2024, in which it found that Wolt couriers are entrepreneurs, not employees. The question of whether platform employees are independent entrepreneurs or salaried employees is also relevant in Estonia. If and how can the resolution of the Finnish court affect how the activities of couriers would be qualified according to Estonian law?

TGS Baltic and Djingov Gouginski Kyutchukov & Velichkov have advised Ifco Systems on its acquisition of Bepco. RASK advised Rostock Capital, Navitas, and Green Technology on the sale.

Pohla & Hallmagi has advised the KindlustusEst insurance broker on the sale of its commercial client portfolio to the Estonian office of global insurance broker Howden. Ellex advised Howden.

Walless has advised the Med Grupe shareholders on the sale of their pan-Baltic dental equipment distribution business to Straumann. Sorainen reportedly advised the Straumann Group.

Rask has advised Estonia-based fintech start-up Bilance on raising a EUR 300,000 investment in a round featuring Specialist VC.

TGS Baltic has advised the SmartCap Estonian state fund on its investment in the EUR 4 million seed round of local deep-tech start-up Up Catalyst. German climate technology fund Extantia led the round which included existing investors Sunly, Little Green Fund, Scottish Baltic Invest, and UniTartu Ventures.

Looking into the historical context of Scandinavian foreign direct investment in the Baltic states, TGS Baltic Managing Partner Ivars Grunte, Walless Partner Rolan Jankelevitsh, Ellex Valiunas Partner Ruta Pumputiene, and Klauberg Baltics Managing Partner Theis Klauberg explore the economic and legal ties between the two regions.

In a move scheduled to start in February, TGS Baltic is welcoming aboard a significant team of lawyers from PwC Legal Estonia.