Event information

Date: Thu 13 Oct 2022 Time: 8.45am-7.00pm Venue: Ciragan Palace Kempinski Çırağan Cad. 32 Beşiktaş Istanbul 34349

GC Summit Türkiye 2022 will be looking at Türkiye on the world stage and how GCs and senior in-house lawyers are coping with the legal and business challenges that domestic and international companies based in Turkey are faced with.

GC Summit Türkiye 2022 will include a series of panel sessions covering a variety of cutting edge and up to date topics for discussion (chosen by the law firm sponsors with prior feedback from those senior leaders attending on the day as delegates). The panel discussions will be followed by an informal networking evening, including drinks and canapés to provide attendees and sponsors with networking opportunities.

Agenda

8.45am Breakfast and Registration

9.30am Opening remarks
Chris Kay, The Legal 500

9.35am Data Protection and Competition Law as a Game Changer in the Data Driven Economies

SRP-Legal

Data-driven operations and data-driven concerns in digital markets, GDPR approach to the Turkish Data Protection Law, Lawful data collection/aggregation activities, Possibility of misuse of data, Exploitative or Exclusionary actions.

10.25am Compliance panel discussion

Cetinkaya

  • Internal investigations in digital era, building the speak-up culture and use of automation in evidence gathering process
  • Sanctions compliance program, red flags, third party risk management and automation needs in volatile political environment
  • Focusing the weakest link in the chain: human factor in compliance programs and building the ethical culture to avoid misconduct and sustainable growth
  • Latest internal and extra-territorial case analysis on the effective use of compliance trainings to employees and third parties

11.15am Coffee break

11.35am Managing IP rights and disputes both locally and globally

Deris Attorney Partnership (IP)

  • Global protection of innovation and patents as assets
  • Managing and protecting trademark rights on national and global basis
  • Managing and handling multi-jurisdictional IP disputes and litigation

12.25pm Considering a companies dominant position – what needs to change?

Kilinc Law & Consulting 

This panel will outline what is a dominant position, and the criteria that are to be taken into account in determining this. It will also look at acts that can be considered an abuse of a dominant position and considerations to be had when a company is close to being in a dominant position. Finally, the panel will analyse the frequency of violations in practice and the subsequent penalties and sanctions.

1.15pm Lunch

2.15pm Employee retention and the recent trends, is the law catching up the trends

Moral | Kınıkoğlu | Pamukkale | Kökenek

We are in a period of increased scepticism towards the concept of employee retention, mainly due to the pandemic and the great resignation afterwards, not to mention the rising popularity of the gig economy.  Companies are in stiff competition with each other to provide better benefits and conditions, but are they making any progress in ensuring employee retention?

What part do stock options play in all this, what’s the stance of companies towards employee stock-option plans and how are these plans regulated by Turkish law? Employee stock-option plans, employee retention, benefits and the experiences of global corporations will be discussed in this educational and pleasant panel.

3.05pm The impact of global and local economic developments on dispute resolution

ASC Law (dispute resolution)

This panel will look at various factors impacting dispute resolution including the use of technology and how this is affecting the decision-making process. It will analyse strategies to increase cost effectiveness and managing the dispute resolution procedure. The panel will also discuss enforcement proceedings and litigation funding during turbulent times.

3.55pm Coffee break

4.15pm Corporate Crime, Illicit Finance and Tackling Dawn Raids – Practical Tips & Critical Advice for GCs

Mustafa Tırtır

This panel will outline the challenges GCs may face with criminal cases related to their company. Issues such as how general counsel should approach criminal accusations against or within the company, and the place of IT crimes in a legal team’s agenda will be discussed. Practical use of organisational criminology within companies will be highlighted. The panel will also discuss how to combat criminal corporate negligence, such accusations against the company, and how to avoid such serious management failures.

5.05pm A new era in Turkish e-commerce law including personal data security

Gökçe Attorney Partnership

Why is the e-commerce law changing in Turkiye and what impact will this have on the legal business market, different sectors including logistics, payment systems, conventional traders and privacy. What are the basic processes necessary to ensure personal data security in the new e-commerce process. What will be the legal requirements in terms of technology and personal data process management.

5.55pm Closing remarks
TBC

6.00pm Networking drinks and canapés

Speakers

Mustafa Yelligedik, legal affairs president, Anadolu Grubu Holding

Mustafa Yelligedik graduated from Ankara University Faculty of Law in 1994. He also completed the Sports Law Program at Kadir Has University Faculty of Law in 2006 and the General Management Program at Bled School of Management in Slovenia in 2008. He began his career in Anadolu Group at Efes Beverage Group as a lawyer in 1997. Afterwards, he worked at Anadolu Endüstri Holding A.Ş. as a lawyer, legal affairs manager, assistant legal affairs co-ordinator and legal affairs co-ordinator, respectively. Mustafa Yelligedik has been Anadolu Grubu Holding legal affairs president since February 2018.

Serhat Demir, executive vice president - legal and regulation, Turkcell

Serhat Demir joined Turkcell as the executive vice president of legal and regulation function in May 2015. In addition to his existing role, he has been appointed as the acting executive vice president of human resources, effective from 16 March 2020. Mr Demir started his professional career in 1997 at Dun & Bradstreet. He worked as a lawyer and held executive and directorial positions responsible for legal affairs at Yıldız Holding and Çalık Holding AŞ. He was a member of the board of directors of Çalık Holding AS and Albtelecom ShA and currently is a member of the board of directors of Banka Kombetare Tregtare ShA and Aktif Yatırım Bankası A.Ş. Serhat Demir graduated from the Faculty of Law at Istanbul University and has a Masters of Business Administration degree. 

Hande Karakülah, legal and scientific director, L'Oréal

Born in 1978, Hande Karakulah is a graduate of Ankara Atatürk Anatolian High School and Istanbul University Faculty of Law. Having completed her master’s degree in European Union law, Hande started her legal career in 2001 at Şanver & Esin Law Firm. Later, she worked as a freelance attorney at ADMD Law Firm, of which she was a partner, as a legal consultant at British American Tobacco Turkey, and then worked as the chief legal counsel in Turkey, Middle East and Africa region for Natura & Co, of which Avon is also a part, for ten years. Hande is currently working as the legal and scientific director of L’Oreal Turkey. 

Throughout her career Hande had multiple roles mostly in legal departments of multinational companies. She has specialised in marketing and regulations; labour relations and operations; contracts and commercial matters. As her role progressed to oversee all legal matters of the companies she worked for in all the countries she covered, she had an opportunity to handle matters ranging from corporate housekeeping to IP litigation; mergers and acquisitions to ethics and compliance. 

She is a member of the Center for Economics and Foreign Policy Studies and the Transparency Association, and a volunteer of the Bir Adım Var Foundation. As the founding member of the SES Equality and Solidarity Association and a member of the Board of Directors, Hande strives to be a supporter of all kinds of progressive, civic initiatives, especially those related to women, just as she strives to be a good mother to Alp and a good companion to all her loved ones. 

Rana Hoffman, deputy chief legal and compliance officer, Koç Group

Rana has 20 years of experience in various areas of corporate law, corporate governance, and M&A. With extensive experience in corporate and project finance, as well as capital market transactions, Rana also has unique experience in the field of sanctions and international trade restrictions. 

Within her legal department Rana is also a project leader, currently overseeing an extensive compliance project to implement a new compliance program throughout Koç Group. 

Başak Gürbüz, lead regional counsel, Visa (South Europe)

Başak Gürbüz graduated from Ankara University Law Faculty in 2004 and had her LL.M degree in Ankara University in 2005 on Commercial Law by focusing on Intellectual Property and Competition Laws along with.

After completing her internship in Kasaroğlu and Yazıcı Law Firms in Ankara, she worked in Bayındır Holding temporarily and then moved to İstanbul in 2006, beginning her career in Pekin & Bayar Law Firm. She focused on Corporate and Real Estate Laws in the firm and after 2 years of service, she continued her career in Gün +Partners where she worked for 8 years and headed the Advertising & Media Law department; also focusing on Intellectual Property and Data Privacy.

After leaving private practice in 2015, she became the Legal and Compliance Director at The Walt Disney Company and worked there for 4.5 years. In 2020, she joined the Visa Legal team as Regional Counsel looking after 9 countries in the South- Eastern Europe cluster. Currently, she is the Lead Regional Counsel for South Europe cluster at Visa, focusing on 5 countries including Turkiye.

Seda Deniz Kasar, legal co-ordinator, SOCAR

Seda Deniz Kasar is the group co-ordinator senior legal counsel at SOCAR Turkey with more than 13 years of experience in different industries. She graduated from Istanbul University Faculty of Business Administration and Faculty of Law under a double major undergraduate programme. She previously worked as a Legal Consultant at ACTECON, and participated in consultancy and advocacy services in many sectors such as health, automotive, energy, cement, FMCG, media and telecommunication. She joined SOCAR Turkey legal team in 2012 and currently represents the SOCAR Group companies’ interests in various legal matters, and is responsible for different industries operations within the company such as oil and gas, petrochemical, port operations, telecommunication. She is leading internal finance and M&A projects and is managing, advising and training on competition law/anti-trust matters of the SOCAR group.

Prof. Dr. Faruk Bilir, president, Data Protection Authority

Professor Faruk BİLİR was born in 1971 in Yozgat. After graduating from the Faculty of Law at Selcuk University, he obtained his Master and Ph.D. degrees in the field of Public Law at the same university. He began his career in 1995 as a research assistant at the Constitutional Law Department of the Faculty of Law. He served as a lecturer between 2001 and 2014 and during his last two years, he had been serving as the head of the department of Constitutional Law. After this date he served as the dean of the Faculty of Law at Karatay University. He had served as the Legal Counselor in the Ministry of Labor and Social Security in 2016. Faruk Bilir, who works in the fields of constitutional law, political science, parliamentary law, governmental systems, human rights, has a large number of published books and articles. He can speak English. He is married and has two children. He was elected as the Member of the Board of the Protection of Personal Data by the President of the Republic of Turkey on 15 December 2016 and elected as the President of the Personal Data Protection Authority on 30 January 2017.

Dr. Faik Metin Tiryaki, vice president, Competition Authority

Att.Dr. Faik Metin Tiryaki graduated from Ankara Law School in 2001. After a short experience as a freelance lawyer, Faik began his career as a legal expert/investigator in the Department of Enforcement of the Capital Markets Board of Turkey. Before joining to the Turkish Competition Authority, Faik spent over 18 years working for the Capital Markets Board of Turkey. He worked as the Deputy Head of Department in the Department of Enforcement for 5 years and as the Head of the Legal Affairs Department for 2 years, respectively.

Faik has been the Vice President of the Turkish Competition Authority since 2020.

During his working life at the CMB/SPK, Faik conducted audits of public companies, brokerage houses, banks, real estate/venture capital investment funds and partnerships, portfolio management companies, as well as on market manipulation and insider trading cases.

While continuing his duty as the Head of the Legal Affairs Department of the CMB/SPK, Faik also represented the CMB/SPK before civil, administrative and criminal courts. He specializes in market abuse cases.

In addition to being responsible for the 4th, 5th and 6th Supervision and Enforcement Departments, Economic Analyses and Research Department, External Relations and Competition Advocacy Department and Decisions Department at the Turkish Competition Authority. Faik also coordinates and acts as a head of Cartels and On-Site Inspections Support Division of the Turkish Competition Authority.

Faik actively joined the preparation of amendments of The Act on the Protection of Competition in 2020, which added the commitment and settlement procedures to the law. Faik also took an active role in updating the Merger/Acquisition Form of the Turkish Competition Authority in 2021.

Faik has obtained his LL.M. (Master of Law) degree from Ankara University on Consumer Law, and his PhD degree from Ankara University on Securitization and Property Law.

Faik is a member of the Ankara Bar Association.

He holds the Capital Markets Licenses including Level 3, Derivatives, Corporate Governance and Credit Rating Licenses.

Bilge Baykurt, information security and privacy senior expert, Paycell

Bilge has experience in different areas such as security and privacy governance, compliance management, customer experience design, system analysis, and software development in the telecom, payment, and banking sectors for more than 15 years.

She graduated Electrical & Electronical Engineering Faculty at Ondokuz Mayıs University in 2001. Bilge started her professional career as a software developer at EGM and then worked as a system analyst at HSBC for 3 years.

Bilge joined Turkcell as a system analyst in 2008, and then she had a lot of roles in different departments such as customer experience manager, and compliance program manager.

She graduated Privacy By Design Program that is prepared by Ann Cavoukian at Ryerson University in 2018. Also, Bilge is an iapp member.

She has ISO 27001  Information Security Management System Lead Auditor certification and she got ISO 31000 Risk Management training in 2022.

Gökçe Ünal Küçükkayıkcı, assistant general counsel, Coca-Cola Icecek

Gökçe Ünal Küçükkayıkcı is a graduate of İzmir Bornova Anatolian High School (1998) and Istanbul University Faculty of Law (2002). She started her career in Coca-Cola İçecek and has served in various roles, most recently assistant general counsel responsible for ethics and compliance. Gökçe has 18 years of experience in various areas of law, especially on corporate and commercial law, competition compliance, IP rights, personal data protection and ethics. In her latest role, she is responsible for developing the ethics and compliance culture of all CCI countries and for the governance of ethics and compliance processes.

Canan Ahtıhan Baştımar, legal director and ethics correspondent central south Europe and Turkey, Air Liquide

Canan Ahtıhan Baştımar, Central South Europe &Turkey Legal Director & Central Europe Ethics Correspondent, Air Liquide

Canan graduated from Istanbul University Faculty of Law where she completed her master’s degree as well.

She is a legal and compliance professional with over 15 years’ of experience in law firms as a litigator and as in-house at multinational companies. She joined Air Liquide Turkey in 2017 and is currently working as the legal director for Air Liquide Turkey, Bulgaria and Romania affiliates and as ethics correspondent for the Central Europe region.

Kerem Kuşcu, head of legal, Kraft Heinz Türkiye

After significant experience in a top-tier international law firm in Istanbul (more than ten years), Kerem Kuşcu joined Kraft Heinz Türkiye as head of legal. During his time at the law firm, he was recognised as a Rising Star by The Legal 500 for two consecutive years in the Türkiye Compliance rankings. 

After he started his new role in Kraft Heinz Türkiye, Assan Foods (one of the biggest sauce, tomato paste and private label producers of Türkiye) was acquired by the Kraft Heinz Company. Following a fast engagement with the company, he currently oversees the full integration of Assan Foods into Kraft Heinz policies, including all employee compensation and benefits, ethics and compliance, investments, procurement, and sustainability matters. 

Kadir Bas, associate professor, Marmara School of Law

Kadir Bas works as an associate professor at commercial law department, Marmara School of Law. He holds a law degree (2007) and an LLM (2009) from Istanbul Bilgi University, and was awarded a doctorate in law at Queen Mary, University of London in 2013. Competition law is one of his specialisation areas. He regularly speaks at conferences and seminars on competition law, and writes extensively in this field. His book titled ‘The Substantive Appraisal of Joint Ventures under the EU Merger Control Regime’ has been released by Kluwer Law International in November 2014. He also has articles published in respected competition law journals, World Competition and Journal of European Competition Law & Practice.

Doğan Coşgun, managing partner, ASC Law

Doğan Coşgun, who has practiced law for 25 years, joined ASC Law in 2017 to head its dispute resolution department. Since joining the firm, Doğan has spearheaded efforts resulting in a sharp increase in the number, and complexity, of the disputes matters the firm handles, including complex arbitration engagements. These developments have resulted in a several-fold increase in the total amount of damages at issue in the matters ASC Law handles. Doğan’s dispute resolution department now has approximately 5,000 active matters, and its approximately 50 lawyers make some 100 court appearances each week. 

Before joining ASC Law, Doğan practiced in-house at several leading Turkish companies, most recently as chief legal officer of Türk Telecom. 

Beliz Başaran, chief legal officer and assistant general manager, Citibank Türkiye

Beliz Basaran graduated from Istanbul University Faculty of Law in 1997. 

She joined Garanti Bank in 1999 as a lawyer and then went on to Verdi & Yazici Law Firm in 2003 as associate legal counsel. 

She joined Citibank Türkiye in 2006 as legal counsel and is acting as the chief legal officer, corporate secretary and assistant general manager of Citibank Türkiye since February 2019. She has over 20 years’ experience in the banking and finance sector encompassing a wide range of areas including legal consultancy, litigation, HR and corporate governance and believes in close co-operation and transparency between the legal team and the business is the key to success. 

She was included in the The Legal 500 GC Powerlist 2019. 

Ayse Yazır, global head of origination, Bench Walk Advisors

Ayse Yazır joined Bench Walk Advisors in 2018 and is global head of origination, based in London.  

She has an outstanding reputation in the litigation funding industry, where she originates, underwrites, and monitors funding in various litigation sectors including international and commercial arbitration, insolvency, class actions and global litigation matters as well as law firm and corporate portfolio arrangements and defense funding. Prior to joining Bench Walk Advisors, Ayse worked as a technical manager in Arthur J Gallagher’s dispute resolution team where she worked with international law firms and litigation funders around the world to deliver funding and insurance solutions.  

Ayse was awarded the Turkish National State Scholarship to study Turkish Law at Başkent University, where she won various academic prizes and graduated third in her year group. She studied English law at Nottingham Law School where she graduated with distinction and she holds a Master’s degree in international relations and is a Chartered Insurer. 

Ruzin Dagli, senior associate, Withersworldwide

Ruzin is a senior associate in the litigation and arbitration team of Withers. As a dual-qualified lawyer (Turkey and England and Wales) who has previously practised in Paris and Istanbul, Ruzin has particular expertise in international arbitration, commercial litigation and both private and public international law. 

In her international arbitration practice, Ruzin represents individuals, companies, states and state-owned entities in international disputes conducted under the LCIA, ICC, DIAC, SCC, UNCITRAL and ICSID rules across a variety of sectors, including construction, energy, infrastructure, technology, pharmaceuticals and textiles. Ruzin also advises states and international organisations on public international law matters such as the application of treaties, dispute resolution issues relating to international trade and investment, human rights and sovereign immunity. 

Ruzin also maintains a pro-bono practice, advising individuals and international organisations on issues of international human rights law and international environmental law. 

Av. Mustafa Tırtır, founding partner, Mustafa Tırtır Law Firm

Av. Mustafa Tırtır has been an attorney at law specialising in criminal law for more than two decades. Mustafa graduated from Istanbul University Faculty of Law in 1999. He worked with his professor in criminal law, Prof Dr Köksal Bayraktar, for a decade before founding his own firm in 2011. Mustafa also has a master’s degree in law from Istanbul Commerce University with his thesis on wiretapping and is enrolled in the public law PhD programme in Istanbul Medipol University. Av. Mustafa Tırtır continues to actively work criminal cases and specialises in white-collar and organisational crimes. 

Altuğ Ozgun, partner, Cetinkaya

Altuğ is a legal and compliance professional with more than 19 years of experience. He started his career as a practicing lawyer in Özgun law firm and then continued as in-house counsel in multinational organisations. He served as legal counsel and a board member in Eastpharma (Deva Holding) then switched from pharma to medical devices in Beckman Coulter (a Danaher company) where he worked as legal and compliance manager. Altuğ continued his career as head of legal and compliance at Sandoz (a Novartis division) where he focused primarily on legal department management, building, and fostering the ethical culture and compliance programme. Later he decided to concentrate more on compliance and worked as an ethics and compliance director in Astellas Pharma; the Japanese R&D pharmaceutical company that he joined Cetinkaya from. After a long and solid in-house career, Altuğ accepted the new challenge of working in a dynamic and client-focused environment, moving to the legal sector to level the playing field for ethics and compliance. He believes the future of legal and compliance services depends on meeting the changing needs of clients, so his motto is ‘I’ve been there, that is why I am here now’. His practice focuses on third-party risk management, company law, labour law, healthcare regulations, anti-corruption law, employment law, white-collar crime, litigation, data privacy law, compliance, and competition law matters. He is a graduate of Marmara University and holds an LLM from Marmara University European Union Law Institute. He is a member of the Istanbul Bar Association and a board member of the Ethics and Reputation Society, where he also lectures Turkey’s first and only ethics and compliance manager certificate program for the seventh time, targeted at professionals from the Turkish business network. Altuğ is also a leading instructor in business ethics and corporate social responsibility and teaches lessons on the Özyeğin University EMBA program.

Lale Defne Mete, partner, Cetinkaya

Defne specialises in corporate, real estate, litigation, and dispute resolution. She advises international institutions, national governments, international companies, Turkish corporates, and start-ups for issues relating to corporate governance, compliance, anti-corruption, employment, and regulatory law. She represents both buyers and sellers in connection with the acquisition of a variety of assets and businesses. She also advises clients regarding local and cross-border disputes involving administrative, tax, customs, employment, business crime, and commercial and collection issues. Before joining Cetinkaya as a founding partner, Defne worked in private practice as a senior lawyer with another leading Turkish law firm. She was in-house counsel for a Turkish corporate and has represented a non-governmental organisation.

Emre Kerim Yardımcı, senior partner, Deris

Emre Kerim Yardımcı is a highly experienced IP attorney, respected both locally and internationally. Fluent in English and French, he complements his international expertise with an extensive network.

Mr Yardımcı’s innovative approach to IP litigation, complex court proceedings and portfolio management has helped drive Deriş’s status as a top, forward-thinking IP firm. He has a reputation for astute strategic legal counsel and is an active panellist for the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP). He has also acted as counsel in many domain name disputes under the UDRP. He is a frequent speaker at conferences and the author of several articles and publications on trademark and patent enforcement.

Since graduating from the University of Geneva with a double major in business management and law, he has deepened his knowledge of the establishment, licensing, acquisition and use of IP assets in Turkey and globally. His recent accomplishments include the successful defence of a leading global chemical producer’s patent registration, as well as employee invention litigation.

Mr Yardımcı is active in trademark, design, geographical indication and patent enforcement and anti-counterfeiting matters after having worked in IP application and opposition matters for several years. He has dealt with a high number of law firms from many countries and has acquired extensive experience on an international level.

Mr Yardımcı participated in the discussions on the new Turkish IP Code before the relevant parliamentary commissions, before the legislation was enacted. He is recently been re-selected to AIPPI’s Programming Committee.

Serra Coral, managing partner, Deris

Founding and managing partner of Deris, Serra has implemented a number of progressive litigious strategies that have brought significant advancement to intellectual property practices. After qualifying, Serra was involved with the introduction of new Decree-Laws and trademark opposition, and later with the establishment and representation of Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) applications in Turkey.

A fluent French and English speaker, Serra is regarded as an international and local expert in the establishment of industrial and IP rights for companies. She also has significant experience in the granting and tracking of licenses. An active litigator in numerous fields including IT law media, advertising, competition and telecommunication, Serra advises renowned brands in the food and beverage, consumer goods and luxury goods sectors. In addition to providing counsel on protection, enforcement, and anti-counterfeiting strategies, Serra has been recognised for her experience and expertise in filing strategies, genericness, litigation and anti-counterfeiting programmes.

She has implemented a balanced scorecard system within the office. Alongside this she counsels clients in the data privacy matters. She has led the in house Project team for 27001 certification and she has an in depth experience concerning the data privacy and data security.

She has received many awards from various platforms such as IAM 1000, WTR 1000, IPSTARS,
Legal 500. She was also recognised as one of the TOP 250 Woman in IP in 2020 by IPSTARS and
Leading Individual in 2022 by The Legal 500.

Okan Çan, senior partner, Deris

Okan Çan represents market-leading companies in the protection and enforcement of IP rights. His expertise extends to IP litigation, IP strategy, transactional intellectual property, technology licensing, data privacy and publicity rights. He is also chairing the data privacy practice of the firm.

By invitation of the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office, in 2016 Mr Çan participated in and actively worked with the commission established for the preparation of the new Turkish IP Code, which entered into force on 10 January 2017.

Okan Can has recently been selected to the INTA Board of Directors as the first Turkish member. He has been nominated to be the first member from Turkey at the Global Intellectual Property Alliance (GLIPA) as transformation of USIPA. He was also awarded as the IP Litigator of the Year in Life Sciences throughout Europe and Middle East in 2022 by LMG.

He is listed in IAM Patent 1000, IP Stars, The Legal 500, Chamber and Partners, and WTR 1000 2016-2022 in the gold tier for litigation and enforcement.

Oya Yalvaç, partner, European patent attorney, Deris

Oya is one of the few European Patent Attorneys who has passed the European Qualifying Examination (EQE) as a Turkish professional. She has worked in the pharmaceutical industry as an in-house patent attorney for more than 10 years. She is specialised in patent litigation namely, infringement, invalidity actions, and actions for declaration of non-infringements.

Oya has also in-depth experience in patent oppositions and freedom to operate. She is appointed as a Court expert for patent disputes occasionally before the Turkish IP Courts. She counsels internationally known apparel and advanced textile company as well as a chemical company for patent infringement action.

This year Oya has received Patent Strategy & Management Individual of the Year award at the LMG Life Sciences Europe and Middle East awards. She is currently a member of the EPI Biotech Committe.

Seray Ozsoy Yavuz, partner, Kılınç Law & Consulting

Seray Ozsoy Yavuz is a partner at Kılınç Law & Consulting and heads the firm’s M&A, capital markets, competition law, and project finance departments.

Seray Ozsoy Yavuz has been providing legal consulting services as an attorney at law specialising in corporate and commercial law for more than ten years.

Seray Ozsoy Yavuz has gained experience in the fields of commercial, competition, and corporate law, capital markets, legal dispute resolution, and project and finance as well as an extensive experience in domestic and international projects in the fields of mergers and acquisitions and competition law.

Seray Ozsoy Yavuz’s practice focuses on, among other areas, corporate governance and M&A, and she advises clients extensively on matters involving cross-border acquisitions, joint ventures, private equity investments, and strategic investments.

Seray Ozsoy Yavuz attends key M&A and competition conferences as a speaker for important organizations regularly and publishes various articles on M&A, competition, capital markets practice areas, and funding. Furthermore, Seray Ozsoy Yavuz, as the head of the competition law department provides services on competition law regulations, key provisions and price mechanisms within contracts, risk management with third parties under competition law, internal compliance processes, and on-site review.

Seray Ozsoy Yavuz is ranked in The Legal 500 as a recommended lawyer.

Sertaç Kökenek, LLM, senior partner, Moral | Kınıkoğlu | Pamukkale | Kökenek

Sertaç Kökenek is a senior partner and the advisory practice head of the firm. His work focuses on M&A, general corporate and commercial law, employment law, as well as compliance. His experience in these fields allows Sertac Kokenek to have a firm grasp of numerous layers of an M&A transaction. This comes in handy for clients, especially during the negotiation and the closing phases. He advises national and international clients and has a deep knowledge of advisory practice. In addition to his M&A and PE experience, his successful track record on stock option implications of gaming companies deserves special mention and has a profound knowledge about white collar crime & investigation. His industry experience covers gaming, technology, heavy industry, energy, retail, healthcare, agriculture, automotive and real estate sectors. Sertaç Kökenek graduated from Bahçeşehir University’s School of Law in 2006 as valedictorian and earned an LLM degree from the University of Cambridge, Faculty of Law in 2010 with a full Chevening scholarship.

Dr Deniz Okuyucu, head of corporate and M&A, Gokce

Deniz Okuyucu graduated from Istanbul University Law School with a high honour degree in 2010 and spent a year at University of Vienna during her graduate studies. In 2013, she obtained her master’s degree (LLM) in commercial and corporate law from Queen Mary University of London. Her master’s thesis was  titled ‘Corporate Governance, Stock Exchanges and The Role of Law; A Country Review: Turkey’.

Deniz completed her PhD studies at Istanbul University with her thesis titled ‘Corporate Social Responsibility of Joint Stock Companies’.

Deniz has been working as a registered lawyer since 2011. Throughout her career, she has worked at leading firms based in Istanbul before joining Gökçe as a partner in late 2020.

Her previous experience covers domestic and cross-border projects including M&As in particular, and she has a special expertise in corporate and commercial law, contract law, technology transactions, transportation and insurance law. Deniz was involved in a large spectrum of M&A, restructuring, investment projects and represented various large corporates throughout her career. She also advised both domestic and multi-national companies in the fields of aviation, transportation, maritime and insurance law. Deniz also provides legal advice to numerous Turkish start-ups, venture capitals and technology companies on a regular basis.

Dr Cigdem Ayozger Ongun, founder and managing partner, SRP-Legal

Att Dr Cigdem Ayozger Ongun, has extensive experience in technology, media and communication law, financial technologies law, commercial and corporate law, competition law and data protection and privacy law. Dr Ongun is the founder and managing partner of SRP-Legal Law Office, headquartered in Istanbul. 

Dr Ongun is also the visiting Associate Professor of Bahcesehir University.  Dr Ongun is also the writer of a book on personal data protection law. She is the writer of Fintech Sector Players’ competition with banks section of the book on applied competition law and of the data protection law section included in the book published and named as a gift to Professor Dr Huseyin Hatemi. She also published and presented an academic paper on blockchain and data protection law at the second National Blockchain Workshop in 2019. 

Dr Ongun is the advisor to the Presidency of the Republic of Turkey Finance Office. She is the chair of the Turkish Industry & Business Association (TUSIAD) Data Protection and Technology Law Group, a board member of the Blockchain Turkey Platform (BCTR), council member of the Turkish Union of Chambers & Commodity Exchange (TOBB) FinTech Industry, member of the advisory board of the Insurance Association of Turkey (TSB), founding member and ethics committee member of the Women in Technology Association (Wtech), board member of the International Women Forum (IWF) Turkey, member of the Turkish Informatics Industry Association (TUBISAD), Turkey Informatics Foundation (TBV), International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP) and Endeavour Turkey’s consultant mentor and the advisory board member of FintechTime magazine.

Av Pelin Kodalak LLM, associate, Mustafa Tırtır Law Firm

Av. Pelin Kodalak LL.M. graduated from College Saint Hadelin high school. She started her legal education in Universite Libre de Bruxelles. She completed her bachelor’s degree in law in Bahçeşehir University. Pelin started her official legal internship in a reputable law firm focusing on IT law and GDPR. During her work, she received her LL.M. degree in public law from Bahçeşehir University following her thesis on the crime of unauthorised entry into IT systems. She is currently a practising attorney at law. Pelin speaks Turkish, French, and English.

Fehmi Levent Özkan LLM, international affairs, Mustafa Tırtır Law Firm

Mr. Fehmi Levent Özkan LL.M. received his bachelor’s degree in law from Kadir Has University with an honours certificate. Following his bachelor’s degree, Levent received a scholarship award from Jean Monnet Scholarship Programme funded by the European Union. He used the award to study in the Forensics, Criminology and Law LL.M. Master’s Programme in Maastricht University Faculty of Law. He wrote his master’s thesis on asset recovery and graduated from the programme cum laude. Levent practises law and focuses primarily on transnational cases.

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