“Being genuinely interested in the people you meet is key for a lawyer”

Counsel Alina Böling from our Competition & Regulatory practice shares her career journey from exploring different paths during her studies to building her expertise in competition law at Krogerus. She reflects on how her interest in EU law led her to the field, the value of diverse early-career experiences, and how continuous learning, collaboration and curiosity have shaped her development as a lawyer.

How has your career been so far and how did you end up at Krogerus?

I started my career at Krogerus as a trainee in 2016 and then rejoined as an associate in 2017. When I started my law studies, I was not really looking to work in a law firm. I rather imagined my future self as a diplomat or in some type of international organization. However, as questions relating to EU law interested me a lot, I ended up doing some courses in competition law which in turn led me to competition law related traineeships, including a traineeship in Krogerus competition practice. Fast forward almost ten years and here we are. 

I have always been very interested in society at large and therefore found competition law that requires an understanding of both law and economics to be a good fit for me. Competition law enforcement is highly adaptive to societal trends and developments, and many things that were not at all on the table when I started my career are today at the core of competition enforcement. Keeping up with this is something I really enjoy in my everyday work. 

In addition to liking the substance of the work, I quite early on noticed that certain things about working in a law firm appealed quite a lot to me: there is always something new to learn, I get to solve demanding problems in a wide variety of contexts, workdays are rarely repetitive and there are all kinds of curveballs that need to be caught (which I personally like a lot). In addition, my motivation is kept high by ambitious and smart colleagues. 

Although I enjoy working at a law firm, I am also very pleased that I have had the opportunity to try out different things. Before starting as an associate, I for some time worked with the Finnish Competition and Consumer Authority and at the Legal Service of the European Commission. I have also spent a year doing court training at the Helsinki District Court. From all these experiences I brought with me different things ranging from added self-confidence to an ability to efficiently make decisions.

In what ways has your expertise evolved during your time at Krogerus and what have been the most important drivers of your professional growth?

The learning curve is rather steep when working at a law firm, especially for the first years of one's career. One reason behind that is of course the opportunity to work with a broad variety of assignments. Working on big cases such as a major merger control process or an antitrust investigation is sometimes like entering a tunnel: you go into something, work very intensely on it and one day you are out on the other side and notice your surroundings have changed: you have come out with a lot of new insights and improved skills that you can take with you to the next assignments. What I especially appreciate about our culture at Krogerus is that we systematically discuss what could be done even better the next time around. 

Another reason for a steep learning curve is the opportunity to work with smart colleagues and learn from what they do. Especially in a more junior role it is very valuable to work with and receive feedback from more senior lawyers, but also in a more senior role I systematically try to observe my colleagues (both the more junior and senior ones) and think about what good ways of working I can learn from them. 

What role does networking play in your continued development and how do professional networks support success in today’s competitive legal landscape?

I think that being genuinely interested in the people you meet, asking them questions and paying attention to what they say is key for a lawyer, both when networking and when working with assignments. In my work I try to connect with and meet a large variety of people, as I find it to be an important way of gathering knowledge that is important and relevant in my work. It helps to connect the dots to a lot of issues. Having a diverse and large network is of course also a resource that can present one with different types of professional opportunities, which is equally important.

Piece of advice you would give an aspiring lawyer

• Language is the main tool of a lawyer, even in the age of AI. Focusing on how to efficiently communicate is more important than ever. Reading (other things than only legal texts) is something that helps perfect that skill.
• Even if you are interested in specializing in a particular field of law it is very worthwhile to have a good general knowledge and try out different things. In 10 years, your preferred field may have evolved to something different than when you started out or you may find yourself in a completely different context than you anticipated. Constantly learning and adapting to new things are essential when working at a law firm.

Alina's career in numbers 

• Nearly 10 years of working as a lawyer
• 8 years at Krogerus
• Nearly 5 years as a member of the Finnish Bar Association