Paksoy

Elvan Aziz is the partner heading the corporate practice of Paksoy, specialising in corporate and company law. She regularly advises clients regarding corporate and commercial issues, including corporate structuring and restructuring, legal mergers and spin-offs, as well as corporate governance matters. Being one of the highly regarded practitioners in the market, Elvan advises clients in their high profile and strategic cross border M&A deals and international joint ventures across various industries. She has been acting for foreign and Turkish strategic investors and PEs in their acquisitions in Türkiye, as well as advising selling shareholders in transactions of all sizes and sectors. As the head of the corporate team, Elvan also oversees the employment and real estate practice of Paksoy. On the employment side, she assists the clients with strategies regarding their workforce in corporate restructurings, acquisitions or establishing management incentive schemes, as well as individual terminations of C-level executives or collective dismissals. On the real estate side Elvan’s expertise covers structuring and providing legal assistance with all relevant agreements of residential and commercial real estate development projects, hospitality projects on developer and/or investor side, as well acquisition of sizeable real estate for investors. Elvan Aziz is a member of the International Bar Association.

Nazlı Bezirci specialises in corporate, commercial matters, corporate restructuring, joint ventures, and mergers and acquisitions. Nazlı Bezirci advises foreign and domestic clients across a wide range of sectors, including, financial services - with a special focus on banking, insurance and pensions - chemical products, industrial, energy and food and beverages. She also has key expertise in public mergers and acquisitions and the governance of public companies. In her role as a key team member in corporate and commercial practice group, Nazlı Bezirci is involved in day to day corporate and commercial advice to multinationals and domestic conglomerates in Turkey including their corporate maintenance work. Ms Bezirci also advises regulated companies in relation to their share and asset acquisitions, regulatory filings and assists with their legal day-to-day requirements.

Ömer Çollak is the partner heading the capital markets practice of the firm whose practice focuses on representing corporate and bank issuers, underwriters and lead managers in cross-border public and private debt and equity offerings, regulatory capital as well as structured and Islamic finance transactions. Mr Çollak has been ranked for many years as a leading and recognized lawyer for Capital Markets by Chambers & Partners, The Legal 500, Who's Who Legal and Legal Experts. Mr Çollak also advises on various high-ticket cross border mergers and acquisitions in a variety of sectors, including financial institutions and retail, acting for private equity firms and strategic investors. Mr Çollak is a registered member of Istanbul Bar, and is a member of the International Bar Association, American Bar Association and Turkish Investor Relations Society (TÜYİD). He is a board member of TUYID and a member of his alma mater Darüşşafaka Society.

Sera Somay is the partner heading the banking and finance practice at Paksoy. Ms Somay’s practice covers a broad range of financing transactions including; club loans, syndicated loans, regulatory capital, ECA covered loans, acquisition financing, various forms of secured financing and other structured financings. She has been representing international and local lenders as well as Turkish borrowers. Ms Somay is also working on financial restructuring of debt, on debt collection proceedings and bankruptcy proceedings. She is a member of the International Bar Association.

Serdar Paksoy is the founding and senior partner of Paksoy. His 40 years of extensive practice covers a broad range of services, including corporate and M&A, white – collar crimes, corporate investigations, regulatory compliance, crisis management, litigation, arbitration and dispute resolution. He has substantial experience in advising foreign investors on strategically significant disputes, particularly those that may arise in their transactions, whether within Turkey or on an international scale. Mr Paksoy is the head of the Litigation and Dispute Resolution practice, focusing on providing comprehensive legal services and strategic guidance. His expertise encompasses a wide range of complex commercial disputes, international arbitration cases, and high-stakes litigation within various sectors and industries. He is an active trial lawyer and has acted for parties in Turkish court actions across a spectrum of contentious matters from shareholder conflicts to construction law, investigations, securities, company law, product liability, tax litigation, administrative law proceedings, and concessionary disputes. Mr Paksoy is renowned for his extensive experience and deep understanding of both the Turkish and international legal landscapes, particularly in resolving critical and consequential disputes for his clients. He has represented investors and sovereigns in international arbitrations before various arbitral institutions including the ICC, ICSID, ISTAC (Istanbul Arbitration Center), Istanbul Chamber of Commerce, ITOTAM and TOBB (The Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey) Arbitration Center. Mr Paksoy acts as arbitrator and counsel in numerous tribunals for a variety of disputes in both domestic and international arbitrations. He is a listed arbitrator of the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce Arbitration Center. He is the country chair and representative of DRI-the Voice of the Defense Bar in Turkey.

Simel Sarıalioğlu

Simel Sarıalioğlu specialises in commercial arbitration, arbitration-related court proceedings and commercial litigation. She sits as an arbitrator; she has represented clients as counsel in various arbitrations under ICC, ICSID, ISTAC, LCIA, SMA, UNCITRAL and VIAC Rules as well as ad hoc arbitrations and complex commercial litigation proceedings. Her clients have included government entities, major telecom operators, media companies and multinationals from a number of sectors such as construction, telecommunication, IT, insurance, customs, pharmaceuticals, manufacturing and retail. Ms Sarıalioğlu is a member of the ICC International Court of Arbitration and the ICC Commission on Arbitration & ADR for the 2024 - 2027 term. Ms Sarıalioğlu is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (FCIArb) and a listed WIPO neutral. She acted as the ICC YAF Türkiye, Middle East & Africa Representative for the 2017-2019 term. She is currently on the executive committee of RAI (Rising Arbitrators Initiative). She is regularly giving lectures on international arbitration as a visiting speaker at law faculties of various universities in Istanbul and is author to numerous publications in the area of international arbitration.

Stéphanie Beghe Sönmez

Stéphanie Beghe Sönmez co-heads the Mergers and Acquisitions department of the firm, heads the Data Protection and Cybersecurity and Intellectual Property practices, and co-heads the Information Technologies and Internet Law practice. She has over 25 years’ experience advising on foreign law aspects of cross-border mergers and acquisitions, private equity investments, joint ventures, and corporate restructuring for a variety of large foreign and Turkish industrial players and financial investors. She has developed key know-how representing investors in diverse sectors in Turkey, including banking and financial services, insurance and private pensions, technology, industry, projects, and healthcare and pharmaceuticals. Ms Beghe Sönmez also has significant expertise in IP and IT matters. She advises on IT and IP issues arising in the context of mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, licensing, distribution, procurement, outsourcing and regulatory compliance. She assists clients with their data protection compliance process, advises on data sharing and data transfer issues, and helps companies structure commercial offers and business procedures in the context of digitalisation and emerging technologies. Before joining Paksoy in 2010, she was a partner at the Istanbul office of a London-based international law firm. Prior to relocating to Turkey in 2006, she practised for eight years with the Paris office of a major US-based international law firm. Ms Beghe Sönmez is a member of the International Bar Association

Togan Turan is the partner heading the antitrust and competition practice of the firm. He has been advising on Turkish competition law since the enactment of the law in late 90s. He has extensive experience in representing clients on antitrust investigations, clearance for mergers and acquisitions, including the negotiation of remedy plans, before the Turkish Competition Authority, and advice with respect to a variety of distribution, licensing, agency, franchise and bancassurance arrangements. He assists clients in conducting internal competition law compliance checks and trainings. Mr. Turan also represents clients on competition law matters before administrative courts as well as damage claims arising from anti-competitive findings before civil courts.