Kolcuoglu Demirkan Koçakli

The firm: Kolcuoğlu Demirkan Koçaklı (KDK) is a full-service law firm with offices in Istanbul and Izmir. Since its inception in 2007, KDK has grown to become one of Turkey’s largest law firms.

At KDK, we use a results-oriented approach to provide tailor made solutions for domestic and international companies, institutions and individuals in various sectors. KDK seeks to provide the highest quality legal services across a wide range of practice areas, serving clients’ needs through pragmatic and efficient solutions. While the firm’s members have a diverse range of backgrounds, they all have significant experience collaborating with major foreign law firms in several jurisdictions. All members of the firm are fluent in Turkish and English, and some are also competent in German and French.

Areas of practice: KDK advises and represents domestic and international clients in connection with the full breadth of Turkish law-related matters, including banking and finance, capital markets, competition law, corporate and commercial, dispute resolution, employment, energy and infrastructure, ethics and compliance, insurance, mergers and acquisitions, personal data privacy and real estate and construction.

Banking and finance: KDK offers comprehensive legal services in the banking and finance sector in areas such as cross-border secured lending, portfolio restructuring, acquisitions and project financing as well as regulatory compliance.

Over the past few years, the firm has handled various transactions, where the firm’s lawyers provided legal advice on facility and security agreements, Islamic finance transactions, local regulatory matters, foreign exchange issues, LMA standards and ECA backed loans.

Capital markets: KDK provides detailed legal services in all capital markets matters, including regulatory compliance, initial and second public offerings as well as with issuing bonds and securities.

KDK’s expert capital markets team has diverse know-how in the capital markets practice, ranging from direct acquisition of publicly traded companies to strategizing squeeze-out/de-listing mechanisms as well as mandatory/voluntary tender offers.

Competition law: KDK’s experienced competition law team provides legal services in all aspects of competition law, including investigations conducted by the Turkish Competition Authority, individual exemption applications, merger control filings as well as design and implementation of merger remedies. The team provides legal advice in connection with compliance of clients’ commercial agreements and business conduct with Turkish competition law.

The KDK team also provides competition law compliance programs, tailored to best suit the sectoral needs of its clients and to keep them current as to the dynamic competition law regime.

Corporate and commercial: KDK advises small, medium-sized and large-scale domestic and international companies in connection with all legal matters regarding their transactions, including commercial and corporate law matters as well as contracts.

The corporate and commercial team is very active in a broad range of sub-practice areas, including contract negotiations, corporate governance and compliance, corporate structuring, real estate, tenders, data privacy rules, anti-bribery and corruption matters and market regulations. This allows KDK to practice in a broad range of different sectors with great knowledge and experience. By knowing the challenges in different sectors, the team provides tailor-made legal services and successfully assists the clients throughout every stage of their business cycle.

Dispute resolution: KDK represents Turkish and foreign clients in a wide range of disputes before Turkish courts as well as in institutional and ad hoc arbitration proceedings. The firm’s dispute resolution partner, Mr Okan Demirkan, is likely the youngest non-academic lawyer in Turkey that has acted as counsel, arbitrator and expert witness in arbitration proceedings, thereby experiencing every role in arbitration. KDK’s dispute resolution team is well-versed in internationally recognized rules and practices and carefully analyze the nuances of each dispute to provide a comprehensive cost-benefit analysis that supports each client’s commercial interests and goals.

KDK’s approach is tailored to best suit the needs of its clients with a focus on providing efficient settlement solutions whenever possible. The firm represents clients throughout the lifecycle of their disputes, from initial discussions to post-resolution recognition and the setting-aside of various matters that involve sales contracts, agency and distributorship relations, corporate transactions, labor relations, intellectual property, white-collar crime, leasing, construction, sports, debt and bankruptcy enforcement.

Employment: KDK provides top-tier employment law advice for both Turkish and international clients in a wide range of sectors. The firm’s services range from negotiating and drafting employment-related contracts, to unilaterally or bilaterally terminating employment relationships and representing clients before the relevant courts.

KDK also represents clients in various labor law disputes including labor union related claims. In addition, the firm regularly advises clients concerning internal corporate regulations and policies, including working hours, annual leaves, disciplinary rules, in-service training and occupational health and safety.

Energy and infrastructure: With strong expertise and know-how in the energy sector, KDK offers sector-specific knowledge on local and international energy and infrastructure projects.

KDK renders extensive legal advice on electricity, natural gas, petroleum, LPG, renewable energy and nuclear energy issues, including matters relating to natural gas/oil imports, wholesale, storage and export activities, as well as electricity market activities and greenfield investments in Turkey.

KDK assists clients in tenders for the privatization of state-owned power plants. KDK has been advising many leading multinational infrastructure companies in multi-hundred million dollar infrastructure projects, including PPP projects entailing EPC contracts. The KDK team has experience in assisting private sector players in the development of top-level landmark projects with Turkish public entities.

KDK has been at the forefront of this decade’s developments in energy and infrastructure and has played a key role in the region’s most ground-breaking energy projects, such as the Shah Deniz Stage II Project, the Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline Project (TANAP) as well as Vitol’s acquisition of OMV Petrol Ofisi.

Ethics and compliance: KDK provides legal advice on all aspects of Turkish and global anti-corruption and anti-bribery regulations to its domestic and international clients concerning their compliance with the relevant laws and regulations and legal services, such as the preparation of internal codes of conduct, corporate compliance and ethics policies. KDK offers its clients a deep understanding, both globally and locally, of legal, procedural, governance, and reputational aspects of regulatory and compliance issues, investigations and litigation.

KDK, as a leading supporter of the establishment of ethical standards in the private sector, strives to raise awareness among its clients and society at large. The firm is an active member of the Ethics and Reputation Society (TEID) and Transparency International.

Insurance: KDK offers a full range of insurance services to both Turkish and internationally prominent companies that operate in the insurance sector.

The firm’s extensive, hands-on experience with both strategic and regulatory insurance matters allows its clients to plan and structure optimal solutions for their insurance-related businesses. The firm’s involvement in insurance-related projects includes regulatory support for all licensing and permit-related matters, as well as liaison with local authorities and assistance with day-to-day operations.

KDK has also been actively involved in various Turkish insurance company mergers and acquisitions and advises local and foreign investors, including multinational corporations and private equity firms on their investments in the Turkish insurance market.

Mergers and acquisitions: KDK is a well-known and highly praised law firm in the Turkish market for its comprehensive and strong M&A practice. Besides the firm’s solid influence in the Turkish market, KDK’s attorneys are highly acknowledged for their strong backgrounds, professionalism and in-depth knowledge of various areas of law.

The transaction team is known for its large-scale projects in highly regulated sectors, including fintech, energy, insurance, pharma, technology, retail, chemicals, financial services, and for advising leading private equity funds and strategic investors in connection with cross-border/local transactional assignments ranging from private/public M&As to joint ventures. KDK has taken part in most of the “landmark” and complex deals in the market and played a remarkable role in the country’s M&A market in recent years.

Personal data privacy: Since the introduction of Turkey’s Personal Data Protection Law in 2016, KDK provides legal assistance to clients on compliance with the Personal Data Protection Law and its secondary legislation. The firm offers its clients tailor-made personal data privacy compliance packages. Within the scope of these tailor-made packages, the team provides its clients with a wide range of services such as the structuring of a fully-functioning and sustainable personal data privacy management system in accordance with the clients’ organizational structure; organizing awareness training for clients with respect to personal data privacy; preparing the necessary documents, policies and procedures required by the relevant legislation and reviewing its clients’ agreements for compliance with the legislation.

Real estate and construction: KDK’s expert real estate and construction team advises clients in every stage of construction and real property development, from full-scale retail developments to internationally branded tourism facilities as well as urban transformation and housing projects.

The team is active throughout the project lifecycle, taking on a dynamic role beginning with target-property investigations, and continuing through the drafting and negotiation of a wide range of agreements, including sale and purchase agreements, easement rights, usufruct rights, passage rights and lease agreements, construction agreements, architectural and engineering service agreements, management and operating agreements, as well as preparation of security packages and tender files.

The team has been advising landowners, project developers, private or corporate investors, REITs, public and private banks, real estate project lenders, construction companies, shopping mall owners, leasing and management companies, retailers, hoteliers, tour operators, port operators and private equities. KDK’s technical knowledge not only gives clients the advantage, but also creates time and cost efficiency. KDK stands as one of the few law firms with a specialised team and also as a single-stop solution for legal assistance in different kinds of legal questions by its clients.

The firm’s real estate and construction partner, Serhan Koçaklı, lectures on real estate law at Istanbul-based universities’ certificate programs.

International work
KDK has developed close relationships with distinguished international law firms and cooperates with these firms to support its multinational clients in cross-border projects. As an independent local law firm, KDK collaborates with approximately 60 international law firms across the globe.

The firm recognizes the value of joining forces with leading business and social organizations, both in Turkey and around the world. Over the years, KDK has been privileged to collaborate with a number of local and international associations.

KDK has established a German Desk as well as a French Desk with more than 10 French-speaking lawyers, where it brings together its experience in advising international companies operating in German-speaking and French-speaking countries.

Additional information
Diversity: KDK recognizes that strength lies in differences, rather than similarities. The firm welcomes individuals with unique characteristics and experiences, including people of different genders, ethnic backgrounds, cultures, national origins, ages, religions and sexual orientations. Diversity nurtures the quality of KDK’s work and is essential in satisfying the needs of its internationally sophisticated client base.

Five out of KDK’s nine partners are female. With a legal team comprised of 73% women and a support staff of 45% male, KDK places a great deal of emphasis on gender equality and strives for the advancement of women in Turkey’s legal market.

Compliance: All members of the firm are well-trained in client confidentiality, data privacy, conflicts of interest, anti-bribery and anti-corruption. Training is conducted on a regular basis, to ensure strong discipline in compliance.

Knowledge management: KDK focuses on preserving the quality of its legal services through legal knowledge management (“KM”). KDK is one of the first Turkish law firms with a KM organization and a dedicated KM director. The firm’s KM organization ensures that knowledge is captured, collated, categorized, improved and shared between project teams and practice areas. KDK reduces costs, creates efficiencies and enhances value for clients, whilst maintaining and improving quality, by effectively using KM. With a culture of innovation and best use of technology, KDK takes a client-centric approach to deliver services that fit its clients’ business strategies and goals.

Technology: KDK’s IT security infrastructure secures clients’ data and ensures strong walls between the firm’s lawyers, particularly in projects involving sensitive information. The firm limits access to all clients data, solely to the team members allocated to the relevant project. KDK’s Chinese walls are not built only on principle but are grounded on strong infrastructure. KDK has taken all IT precautions to block all types of security breaches.