DWS vs. Camerons in night-time Nordic rugby slam

Teams from CMS Cameron McKenna and Denton Wilde Sapte will compete in a late night rugby match this weekend as part of an international “Midnight Rugby Tournament” in Finland.

On 27 and 28 June teams from the two firms will join 22 other club and part-time teams from across Europe competing at night in Finland, which due to its northerly position enjoys the latest sunsets in Europe in Summer.

The event was organised by Andy Cotton, a Helsinki-based English partner at Dentons’ local best friend Procopé & Hornborg.

Cotton said: “Finns have a good mentality for rugby, they’re used to
playing ice hockey and so are used to the contact. There’s a Finnish word, ‘sisu,’ which means ‘never give up,’ and that suits rugby pretty well.”

The tournament will see paralegals, trainees and associates from the firms participating, and kicks-off at 5pm local time this evening.

Despite the name however, nobody will actually be on the field at midnight.

Instead the teams will begin playing at 10.30 and see in the new day in traditional Finnish style - with a sauna.

“The emphasis is on the fun,” Cotton said.

The event is sponsored by Dentons. Partner Guy Fifield, who has a Finnish client base that includes businesses such as Nokia, said: “We have a particular interest in building our practise in the Baltic region and we will be sponsoring this annually.”

Fifield added that he would not be joining the scrum personally: “I’m a senior partner so I’m a bit aged,” he said.