The Lawyer: Stockholm just got a new boutique
The big news out of Stockholm last week was that a handful of Cederquist’s banking and finance partners are heading off to start their own firm led by former managing partner Johan Lundberg. Boutique firms have become so ubiquitous in the litigation space that Lundberg splitting off to form one focused solely on banking, finance and restructuring work seems novel. The new firm will be called RE:FI STHLM and spearheaded by Lundberg with three further partners and a total lawyer headcount of around eight.
Lundberg made his name in the Stockholm finance market over the last two decades. He was hired into his former firm under the tutelage of Svante Hultqvist who continues to be a mentor to this day. Hultqvist was a towering influence over Cederquist’s finance department and, through a secondment to Allen & Overy’s City office early in his own career, forged close ties to a key player in London. Lundberg, speaking to The Lawyer, made Hultqvist’s role in his development perfectly clear and now welcomes his old mentor to his new firm as a counsel.
The budget for its first full year of operations in 2025 is €5m (£4.3m) which Lundberg believes could necessitate a lawyer headcount of up to 20 and make it one of the city’s larger boutiques.
In terms of how RE:FI will seek to grow its business to hit that revenue target and go beyond it, Lundberg has no intention to move outside of what he knows. The firm is about restructuring and finance and that it how it will stay. Though the firm is still in its infancy, Lundberg has lofty ambitions for where he wants the firm to be. The added benefit of this is that a boutique staunchly saying it has little interest in other areas can become an important part of the legal ecosystem.
The Passport published in The Lawyer 30/04/2024. Interview by Michał Radoszewski and Alex Taylor.
