Estonian firms Ellex Raidla and Primus are merging to create the country’s largest law firm.
The merger, which goes live on 1 January, will see the Primus brand retired and the new firm continuing under the Ellex Raidla banner. The merged firm will have 60 lawyers.
Ellex Raidla is a member of the Ellex association in the Baltic region. The merger strengthens Ellex’s position as the largest law firm across the Baltic region, with 211 lawyers.
Ellex Raidla is one of the oldest law firms in Estonia. It was established by Jüri Raidla, who is Estonia’s first minister of justice and first chairman of the Estonian Banking Association. He also chaired the committee that drafted the constitutions of the country.
The Ellex Raidla partnership in Estonia will comprise of senior partner Raidla, board members Ants Nõmper, Gerli Kilusk, Toomas Vaher and Martin Triipan. It will also include partners Sven Papp, Ermo Kosk, Risto Vahimets, Raino Paron, Arne Ots, Anton Sigal, and Martin Käerdi, who will lead the firm’s different practice groups.
“The decision to merge was based on a common vision to business development and customer service,” said Nõmper. “Our organisational cultures are also very similar.”
Kilusk, a Primus partner, said that the two firms have great synergy and a shared client base.
“Our workload and client base is constantly growing, and due to our rapid growth in recent years, we had reached the point where we had to make a strategic decision whether to continue the path of organic growth or to find other opportunities in our development,” Kilusk said. “Therefore, it was time for us to choose, how to develop our administrative functions in such a way that we are able to maintain our close relations with our clients at the same time.”
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