Mr Tom Vapaavuori > Bird & Bird > Helsinki, Finland > Lawyer Profile
Bird & Bird Offices
MANNERHEIMINTIE 8
00100 HELSINKI
Finland
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Mr Tom Vapaavuori
Work Department
Dispute Resolution
Position
Tom Vapaavuori is a partner in Bird & Bird’s Helsinki office and the Head of our Finnish Dispute Resolution group as well as the co-head of our international Trade Secret group. He has a lot of experience in demanding litigations and arbitrations and trade secret matters.
Tom works with a broad range of company litigations, arbitrations and white collar crimes. He also acts as an arbitrator, as nominated by parties in disputes, or by the arbitration institutes. He advises his leading domestic and international clients on a broad range of contentious and non-contentious matters in several sectors.
In addition to dispute resolution he is especially active in contractual matters such as distribution, purchase and sale, co-operation, joint ventures, leasing, employment, intellectual property, IT and non-disclosure agreements.
Career
From the beginning of this millennium, Tom has specialised in matters related to trade secret protection. He is the author of ‘Trade Secrets and Non Disclosure Agreements’, Finland’s only legal handbook on the subject. A new, totally updated third edition of the handbook came out in 2019.
In trade secret matters Tom has worked as a member of a task force preparing Finland first trade secret law, and as a member of the ICC’s Task Force on Confidentiality Agreements, which created an international Model Confidentiality Agreement. He has also advised multiple companies in trade secret matters and represented clients in court in trade secret violation cases.
Tom has written many articles and he regularly lectures at legal seminars on dispute resolution, trade secrets and contract law.
Languages
Finnish, English, Swedish
Memberships
Member of the Finnish Bar Association
Member of the Finnish Industrial Property Rights Association
Member of the Finnish Association for Arbitration
Education
LL.M., University of Helsinki 1993
Lawyer Rankings
Finland > Dispute resolution
With a strong focus on trade secret litigation and white-collar crime cases, Bird & Bird‘s dispute resolution practice handles disputes relating to competing activities and corporate malpractice, and acts in court litigation and arbitration proceedings across the construction real estate related and transport sectors. Team co-head Tom Vapaavuori is also head of the international trade secret group and covers a broad range of commercial litigation, arbitration and white-collar crime matters, specialising in trade secret claims, while fellow co-head Mikko Rajala focuses on commercial dispute resolution, as well as real estate-related matters.
Finland > Intellectual property
The IP litigation department at Bird & Bird is headed up by Henri Kaikkonen, who ‘masters the legal issues relating to patents’, trade mark and unfair business practice disputes, brand protection work, and IP licensing agreements. The team frequently acts in trade mark disputes and enforcement work (areas of focus for Mikko Nurmisto), R&D and licensing issues, trade mark portfolios and disputes, as well as patent infringements. Dispute resolution group head Tom Vapaavuori is also experienced in trade secret matters.