Cobalt > Vilnius, Lithuania > Firm Profile

Diversity

We are committed to continuing to build an inclusive culture and to make diversity and inclusion an integral part of our decision-making at every level of the firm.

At Cobalt, we are committed to creating a culture of equality providing an environment within which all employees have equal opportunities for development and progression. All our people are key to our future growth and ongoing success.

Some of our career development, talent acquisition and retention initiatives and principles are mentioned below:

Career development

We don’t have a specific female-focused career development program. These expectations are equal for all moving on their career path. We have 8 main levels in our career plan and these steps are determined by years of experience, level of education and specific expectations that need to be filled in order to move to the next level. All these expectations are discussed when the entry level starts at the office or yearly during the performance reviews.

Seeking new talent

We run a twice a year traineeship programmes (winter and summer) in Estonia. Traineeship program lasts for 4-6 weeks and yearly we hire yearly about 12% from the trainees to our firm. In average applicants are 30-35% male and 65-70% female, and the ratio of successful candidates has been 50% female and 50% male for the past 3 project rounds.

Seeking experienced hires

When seeking experienced talent, we keep a close eye on our market and conduct a wider public hiring campaigns or targeted searched for certain fields. In addition, we campaign and share our vacancies and opportunities always on different marketing channels, to ensure the widest outreach possible.

Fair promotion and appraisal practices

We strongly believe that following fair promotion practices are of critical importance in setting the tone for our internal culture and retaining talent. We promote based on merit, results and ability.

Equal pay and bonus

We remain confident that men and women are paid equally for doing equivalent roles within Cobalt. We continue to monitor our mean and median pay ratios on all the levels in the firm. We are systematically running analysis on the salaries of our associates at different levels, at our partner’s and our business services team to ensure that. We are also closely reviewing our bonus procedures as part of the annual salary review, and we commit to treating men and women equally when considered for a bonus.

Diversity & Inclusion

We value diversity and the benefits diverse teams bring to our clients. While we currently don’t have a formal firm-wide D&I policy just yet, we continue to strive to create an inclusive culture and diverse workforce where our people have a sense of belonging and feel they are equally involved and supported​. We are committed to continue creating an inclusive culture and make diversity and inclusion an integral part of our decision-making at every level of the firm. At the moment Estonia has six female and seven male partners, Lithuania has four female and fourteen male partners, Latvia has two female and seven male partners. Meaning 33% of our partners are female.

According to Eurostat, Estonia and Latvia still have the highest gender pay gap compared to other EU Member States, we believe it is our responsibility as a corporate citizen to take a firm action to improve the current situation.

International capabilities

COBALT is a closely integrated alliance of top-tier law offices across the Baltics uniting more than 200 attorneys and lawyers.

Finnish Desk

COBALT’s Finnish Desk, based in our Tallinn office, focuses on legal issues related to cross-border business activities between Estonia, Latvia or Lithuania and Finland. Its main target group consists of the investors, entrepreneurs and companies in the Baltic States having a business interest in the Finnish market and vice versa.

The Finnish Desk consists of a four-member project management team: Martin Simovart, partner, Jesse Kivisaari, specialist counsel, Getter Villmann, junior associate, and Hegle Pärna, assistant lawyer.

In addition, the services of the Finnish Desk provide access to the high-level legal services of COBALT law office in all legal areas in the Baltics, and to an extensive global partner network, including the exclusive membership of the Estonian office in World Services Group which intermediates worldwide recognised legal professionals and high-quality legal services, and in Lex Mundi which is an organisation of the world’s leading independent law firms.

German Desk

Germany is an important trading partner for the Baltic States. Many German and Austrian companies have established subsidiaries in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Likewise, Baltic entrepreneurs expand their business to German speaking countries. Accordingly, the demand for legal services in German language is quite high. We advise both domestic companies that are entering markets in Germany, Austria or Switzerland, as well as investors from German speaking countries.

Our team consists of qualified lawyers who have obtained their master or doctorate degree at German universities and have gained certain working experience in German law offices.

Client testimonials

CLIENT: Flavio Perini, Chief Executive Officer, Chairman of the Board, AS Baltika
COMPANY/FIRM: AS Baltika
TESTIMONIAL: I met with COBALT team for the first time during early spring 2020 when me and the shareholders were evaluating the opportunity to apply for the reorganisation of Baltika, one of the biggest retail companies in Estonia with also a presence all over Baltics, listed on Nasdaq Baltic Stock Exchange market. COBALT team was leading Baltika’s team through this complicated and uncertain procedure with a lot of professionalism, seriousness and preparation and the final result achieved thanks to their help was simply great.

CLIENT: Donatas Aksomitas, Managing Director, AGACAD
COMPANY/FIRM: AGACAD
TESTIMONIAL: AGACAD had worked with Cobalt in the past on a variety of corporate matters and always found them to be highly knowledgeable on both the legal and the business side, as well as proactive and efficient. For M&A work, the reputation of the firm – and in particular that of Juozas Rimas who heads the M&A Practice – preceded them. There was a long track record of deals where they successfully advised both local and international clients. So we knew we could count on them to represent our interests effectively and professionally in this transaction of historic importance to AGACAD and its founders.

CLIENT: Olga Barreto Goncalves, CEO, Latvian Startup Association “Startin.LV”
COMPANY/FIRM: Latvian Startup Association “Startin.LV”
TESTIMONIAL: Our recent experience with Cobalt included work on the new share option regulation in Latvia which took almost a year.

The elaboration on the new share option regulation in Latvia is an excellent example of private-public cooperation, which has resulted in the qualitative, balanced and up-to-date legal framework, embodying the best international practice and respecting essential local requirements.

As the lead voice of the start-up ecosystem in Latvia, we can confirm that the new share option regulation was a long-waited improvement and we already notice its positive impact on industry development.

Together with the start-up community, venture capitalists, parliament representatives (in particular Mr Reinis Znotiņš), Cobalt was one of the key drivers within the legislative process, demonstrating an excellent understanding of the business side and providing crucial legal input throughout all process.

CLIENT: Darius Žakaitis, Founder, Tech Zity UAB
COMPANY/FIRM: Tech Zity UAB
TESTIMONIAL: COBALT has advised our company Techzity UAB on the acquisition of shares in Techfabrikas UAB and the creation of a joint venture for the development of an innovative business park in Klaipėda, Lithuania. COBALT lawyers always find logical and knowledge-based solutions for every problem. I really enjoy working with COBALT and feel they have my back every step of the way. They were agile, pragmatic, bold, consistently level-headed and worked 24/7 to keep the deal on track. The team handles the full spectrum of M&A work and appears to be the first port of call for many of the market’s most high-value and sophisticated matters. Their attention to detail, extensive experience and strategic skills create value for clients.

CLIENT: N/a
COMPANY/FIRM: OP Corporate Bank plc Latvia branch
TESTIMONIAL: COBALT team was reached to provide their service in preparing credit documentation for a project finance case in energy sector. With the team’s professional and elaborative approach, it was possible to reach the goal in rather compressed time schedule. The team was certain not to overlook any details and they were prepared for anything that could come their way during discussions. It was also significant contribution that the involved specialists were following very carefully the set milestones in order to satisfy their fulfilment. Extensive knowledge of the energy sector was essential in supplementing the final documentation with important elements. All in all, ability to work under pressure and find compromises were also important elements to finalize this service, and we are thankful for the team’s contributions in this project.