History “We are fortunate in having evolved a unique

History
Roschier was founded in 1936. Since then the world has seen a lot of changes, and so has
the firm. Today, Roschier is no longer a domestic operation, but an international one with a
leading presence also in Sweden. Despite the firm’s vast expansion and growth during the
past few decades, its core values remain the same and are as strong as ever.
1936 was a year of great achievements: the first regular television service from the BBC, the
completion of the Hoover Dam, the publication of Gone with the Wind, the first edition of Life
magazine, to name a few.
And the founding of Roschier.
At the time, Åke Roschier-Holmberg, the founding Partner, was a young lawyer working at the
law offices of a fellow lawyer. When the other lawyer accepted a job at the City Court of
Helsinki, Roschier-Holmberg took over his book of business, adding to it in October 1936 the
business of pioneering female lawyer and campaigner for women’s rights Agnes Lundell.
From the start, the law firm that RoschierHolmberg created benefited from a strong set
“We are fortunate in having
of values. Foremost among these was an
evolved a unique culture that
absolute commitment to professional ethics
emphasizes client orientation,
and to the wider role of the lawyer in society.
Also important from the start were “the
professionalism, pioneering spirit,
Roschier thumbprint” – a relentless focus on
teamwork, ethics and social
the highest qualities of product and of client
responsibility.”
service – and a commitment to teamwork and
respect for one’s colleagues.
It was this approach that helped the firm survive its first major challenge – the Winter War. It
was during the war, too, that Åke met Arne Waselius, who was to join the firm in 1944,
becoming a Partner three years later. The pair would go on to run the firm for 30 years,
becoming admired and respected fixtures of the Finnish legal landscape.
The firm has enjoyed a long tradition of innovation and entrepreneurialism. At the start, it was
the most international of Finland’s law firms, working largely with the Finnish subsidiaries of
international businesses, and this may have helped instill a global mindset. This was vital as
markets, business practices and technology changed rapidly through the 1970s and 1980s.
The firm went through two major reorganizations, one in 1984 and another in 1994, which
revolutionized the industry and introduced, for the first time in Finland, legal specialization as
we know it today. Being on the front lines of development had, by this time, become second
nature to the firm.
The 1990s and 2000s saw Roschier professionalizing further, and in 2005, it took the
important step of setting up an office in Stockholm, Sweden. Today, the firm’s Swedish
operation has established itself as a market leader, with more than 80 lawyers and a track
record for steadily winning market share and recruiting some of the strongest profiles in the
market.
The modern Roschier is one of the world’s elite law firms. Its technology, training and
knowledge management systems are state-of-the-art. Its reputation for the highest quality of
product and client service is second to none. “We are fortunate in having evolved a unique culture that emphasizes client orientation,
professionalism, pioneering spirit, teamwork, ethics and social responsibility. It’s sometimes
said that ‘culture eats strategy for breakfast.’ We hope that’s true – because in an
unpredictable world, where no organization is ‘future proof,’ getting the basics right offers the
best chance of remaining at the cutting edge of European law for another 79 years,” says Fredrik Rydin, Managing partner of Roschier.