In my opinion, it is difficult for Fondia to compete in corporate law with top-tier firms (C&S, Roschier, etc.) - Clients are willing to buy hours from these firms at a price of 400-700 euros, and these firms hardly need to present or sell their services. In my experience, Fondia is perhaps one of the most active in new client acquisition, at least in Helsinki.
My understanding is that their employer brand is not nearly as attractive as with the aforementioned firms, and having spoken to half a dozen partners from large firms, the impression I get between the lines is that Fondia is not really considered a “serious” competitor. It’s probably a good place to work for those in lower-midtier & midtier if they don’t have the same passion to work long weeks/days when crunch time is on.
However, I believe that in certain types of operations and in smaller-scale contract negotiations, Fondia can be a sufficiently good partner.