In his work, Risto gets straight to the point. He establishes good contact with new clients quickly, as in criminal cases time is often of the essence. Risto helps clients understand the prospects of their cases and the risks and problems involved, and then proceeds to fight the case in court, make a plea deal, or pursue termination of proceedings, as appropriate.
Clients have repeatedly asserted that Risto has an ability to make even complex topics and situations easy to understand, and this helps them when it comes to all-important decision-making. Clients also point out that even in high-pressure situations (such as police interrogation as a suspect) Risto is able to make them feel calm, prepared, and provide them with much-needed certainty.
A number of clients have discovered Risto through his blogs. His writings focus on practical matters of criminal law, litigation, dispute resolution, and lawyering in general, trying to make these topics easy to understand for laypeople as well. Risto has handled over 100 cases in his career.
Even in cases with a successful outcome, clients prefer not to be associated with criminal matters, but some representative cases include:
- landmark case concerning betting fraud in Estonian football, where the client was acquitted.
- two cases decided in favour of Risto’s clients in the European Court of Human Rights.
- defence in fraud cases, including the defence of an Estonian company against charges of investment fraud in the amount of more than 1.5 million USD, and of an Estonian oil company against tax fraud charges.
- successful defence of a police officer accused of embezzlement of government property.
