Dr Carri Ginter > Sorainen > Tallinn, Estonia > Lawyer Profile

Dr Carri Ginter

+372 6 400 914 [email protected]

Work Department

Competition & Regulatory, Dispute Resolution & Risk Management, Intellectual Property, Insolvency & Restructuring

Position

Partner, head of the firm’s Dispute Resolution & Risk Management practice in the Baltics.

Career

Dr Carri Ginter is head of the firm’s Dispute Resolution & Risk Management practice in the Baltics. He has litigated hundreds of matters in clients’ interests. In 2024, Estonia appointed Carri an arbitrator for the ICSID (International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes). The same year, the President of Estonia awarded Carri the Order of Merit of the White Star.

Expert on EU law. Carri served as an expert witness in a historic hearing before the Estonian Supreme Court regarding the constitutionality of the European Stability Mechanism. He has successfully represented the European Commission in the Court of Justice of the EU, Tallinn city, the largest political party, ministers, and members of parliament. As a recognition of his experience in the field of EU law, Carri has been appointed avocat conseil (legal adviser) to the French Embassy in Estonia for over 15 years.

Arbitration. In addition to being appointed by Estonia as an arbitrator for the ICSID, in December 2020, the EU Council added Carri to the Reserve list of BREXIT dispute arbitrators. In 2022, the European Commission listed Carri as one of the arbitrators for bilateral disputes of the EU under trade agreements with third countries. In 2024, Dubai International Arbitration Court (DIAC) added him to their list of arbitrators and most recently, he was appointed to the 2025-2026 SCC Arbitrators’ Council.

IP advice. As an IP litigator, Carri had the privilege of representing a major Estonian food manufacturer in a ground-breaking trademark infringement case in which the court ordered ‒ and the Supreme Court upheld ‒ that the infringing party pay all of its gross profits to the client. This represented a change in Estonian IP law and trademark infringement cases.

Fighting corruption. In 2015-2016, he was a member of the management board of the Port of Tallinn, the biggest port in Estonia with a turnover of around EUR 100 million and, as far as cargo and passenger traffic are concerned, the biggest port on the Baltic Sea. The supervisory board appointed him after the Port of Tallinn had accepted the resignation of two board members who were arrested as part of a bribery investigation.

State issues. Carri has defended Estonian government ministries and the City of Tallinn in court and won the largest civil damages claim in history against the Republic of Estonia. He successfully represented retired judges in constitutional review proceedings, challenging new legal amendments adopted by the Parliament of Estonia and introducing a new indexing system for judges’ pensions.

Academic at heart. Carri is an associate professor of EU law at the University of Tartu, where he has twice been named Lecturer of the Year and recognised with a medal for a long-term significant contribution to the university’s development. He publishes internationally in the field of EU law, including having co-authored an Estonian-language book on the European Union (EU) and Estonian competition law. Carri supervises research at the LL.M and PhD levels and mentors the Sorainen Academy and Thinktank, initiatives that seek to advance young people.

Languages

Estonian, English, French, German, Russian, Swedish

Memberships

• Estonian Bar Association
• Founding member of FIDE Estonia (International Federation of European Law)
• Estonian Lawyers’ Union
• Estonian Moot Court Society
• Swedish Institute Management Network
• Domain Disputes Committee of Estonian Internet Foundation
• Dubai International Arbitration Centre (DIAC) Arbitration List
• SCC Arbitrators’ Council

Education

• University of Tartu, Estonia (PhD in Law)
• Stockholm University, Sweden (LLM)
• Concordia International University, Estonia (BA in Law)
• Swedish Institute Management Programme, Sweden
• University of Munich, Germany (training programme in German and European Law)
• Hague Academy of International Law, The Netherlands (Private International Law)