November 2, 2011 6:31 PM

White & Case Partner Was Second-Highest-Paid Person in Finland Last Year

Posted by Tom Huddleston Jr.

Citing government tax documents, a Finnish newspaper has identified a Helsinki-based White & Case partner as the country's second-highest wage earner in 2010.

Petri Haussila, global head of White & Case's capital markets practice and executive partner of the firm's office in the Finnish capital, earned €3.6 million ($4.96 million) in taxable income last year, according to a report in YLE Uutiset that cited documents provided by the Finnish Tax Administration.

The paper reports that Haussila's 2010 earnings qualify as the second-highest taxable income for an individual in the country last year, placing the White & Case attorney between former Nokia CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo and Matti Alahuhta, the CEO of escalator and elevator manufacturer Kone.

According to YLE Uutiset, Kallasvuo earned about $11 million in wages in 2010, including $7.6 million from a buyout he received after being ousted from his position as the mobile phone giant's top executive in September. (Kallasvuo is also a lawyer, having started his career at Nokia as the company's corporate counsel in 1980.) Alahuhta earned $4.8 million in 2010, according to the paper.

YLE Uutiset based its rankings on wage income alone and did not include "unearned income" from investments or other sources in its calculations. In a separate report, also citing Finnish Tax Administration documents, the Helsinki Times notes that John Lindell, a former owner of a wholesale business, declared the highest unearned income in Finland in 2010 at about $25.5 million.

Haussila—who maintains an international corporate finance and transactional practice that includes advising on securities offerings, debt and equity financing, and M&A matters—declined The Am Law Daily's request to comment on the report.

According to The Am Law 100 survey White & Case had average profits per partner of $1.55 million in 2010 on gross revenues of $1.28 billion.

A member of the bar in Finland and New York state, Haussila generally represents multinational corporations based in Finland and throughout Scandinavia, according to his biography on the White & Case Web site. In January, for example, he advised Espoo, Finland-based Talvivaara Mining Company on a $310.5 million convertible bond offering.

Haussila is also the founder of TUM Records, which he started in 2003 as an independent record label specializing in free-expression jazz music. The label produces and distributes albums, and hosts TUMFest, an annual concert in Helsinki.

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