Mr Gürkaynak heads the competition law and regulatory department of ELIG Gürkaynak Attorneys-at-Law. He has unparalleled experience in Turkish competition law counseling issues with more than 25 years of competition law experience, starting with the establishment of the Turkish Competition Authority. Every year Mr Gürkaynak represents multinational companies and large domestic clients in more than 35 written and oral defences in investigations of the Turkish Competition Authority, about 15 antitrust appeal cases in the high administrative court, and over 85 merger clearances of the Turkish Competition Authority, in addition to co-ordinating various worldwide merger notifications, drafting non-compete agreements and clauses, and preparing hundreds of legal memoranda concerning a wide array of Turkish and EC competition law topics.

Mr Gürkaynak frequently speaks at conferences and symposia on competition law matters. He has published more than 200 articles in English and Turkish by various international and local publishers. Mr Gürkaynak also holds teaching positions at undergraduate and graduate levels at two universities, and gives lectures in other universities in Turkey.

Eleanor was a partner at the New York law firm Simpson Thacher & Bartlett. She served as a member of the International Competition Policy Advisory Committee to the Attorney General of the US Department of Justice (1997-2000) (President Clinton) and as a commissioner on President Carter’s National Commission for the Review of Antitrust Laws and Procedures (1978-79). She has advised numerous younger antitrust jurisdictions including South Africa, Egypt, Kenya, Tanzania, The Gambia, Indonesia, Russia, Poland and Hungary and the common market COMESA.

Eleanor received an honorary doctorate degree from the University of Paris-Dauphine (2009). She was awarded an inaugural Lifetime Achievement award in 2011 by the Global Competition Review for ‘substantial, lasting and transformational impact on competition policy and/or practice’ and lifetime, inaugural or other achievement awards from ASCOLA, AALS Antitrust Section, New York State Bar Antitrust Association, and the American Antitrust Institute. With Mor Bakhoum, she wrote Making Markets Work for Africa (Oxford 2019).

He was previously non-executive director of the Office of Fair Trading in the United Kingdom (2007-2014), judge on the French Supreme Court (Cour de cassation, Economic Commercial and Financial Chamber) from 2004 to August 2012, vice chair of the French Competition Authority (1993-2004) and president of the WTO Working Group on Trade and Competition (1994-2003). He was visiting professor at Northwestern University department of economics in the United States (1978), Keio University Department of economics in Japan (1984), University of Capetown Business School in South Africa (1991), Haifa University School of Law in Israel (2012). He was visiting professor at University College London Law School (2005-2010), global professor of antitrust in the New York University School of Law’s Hauser Global Law School (2014, 2017 and 2022) and senior fellow in the online global competition and consumer law masters programme, University of Melbourne (Australia)(2016-2018).

Frédéric has written extensively about trade, competition and economic development and has served as an adviser to many developing countries on competition and trade issues.