Harri Saari

Harri has a Masters degree in law from the Helsinki University. He has served in the UN Peace Corps in various international assignments and locations, such as Lebanon, Kashmir, Makedonia and Albania.

I ended up working at B&K by coincidence, really. My summer job at the time was nearing its end, and I’d been thinking about getting a part-time job for the winter as well. One of my student colleagues was working at B&K, but was about to leave for France as an exchange student. Therefore, I wondered if B&K would need a replacement for him. So I sent in an application, and soon found myself being interviewed by Riksu and ended up getting the job. This was back in the autumn of 1994.

What I did as a B&K trainee

Working as a B&K courier, the locations of various governmental bureaux and courts became very familiar. What stuck to my mind in the beginning was the confidentiality obligation of a lawyer. That is something that I will probably never forget. I worked both part-time and full-time. After getting some client cases to work on, I found myself at the office quite often.

The most memorable experiences

Similar to my time as a student, the most memorable moments at B&K were various parties and happenings, such as driving go-karts at the office Christmas party or the great view from the Palace Hotel sauna department.

I very much enjoyed my time at B&K, especially the time spent with the rather large group of trainees working there at the time. My studies weren’t really advancing, though; the initial enthusiasm for them had faded, and the end wasn’t really in sight yet. I craved for something totally different, to get a complete break from law and everything that had something to do with it. From time to time I had played with the idea of becoming a member of the UN Peace Corps, and at the time I was nearing the required age of 25. I applied, never really thinking I had any chances. I got in on standby, however, and at the beginning of 1996 I was offered a post in the Finnish UN battalion in Lebanon.

In Lebanon I also got to know about the job of a UN military observer. This interested me, and after a short time I found myself on a military observer course. Soon after the course, I was offered a job in Kashmir as an observer - which happened to be number one on my wishlist as a location. The mission was to start in a year, so had time enough to finish my law studies.

Harri Saari
Master of Laws, Helsinki