Aksan Law Firm

Aksan Law Firm is an independent full-service law firm based in Istanbul. Since 1984, the firm has been a trusted advisor to countless successful businesses both for navigating through disputes and achieving growth. It is currently one of the largest firms in Turkey both in terms of number of professionals and clients.

Due to a relative shortage of law firms in the region that can deliver services at international standards, Aksan had to structure itself in a way it can advise on corporate and commercial matters at a broader level. This means that Aksan’s daily regular practice usually involves advising for a broad spectrum of matters, such as data protection to private equity and venture capital investments, complex dispute resolution to real estate matters, public projects to tax optimization, employment law to company restructuring, mergers and acquisitions projects and more.

Aksan’s 90+ people team, organized under eight partners and a wide network of respectable academics and experts, caters for all these fields by dedicated specialist teams. The firm not only has a strong multinational presence in the region (MENA, CIS and CEE) through long-standing relationships with local reputable firms, but also established direct initiatives in Silicon Valley, New York, London, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Japan to supply for the significant client demand.

Areas of practice
Energy and mining: Aksan provides consultancy services on production, transmission and financing with regard to electricity, wind, natural gas and renewable energy such as biomass, bio-fuel and solar energy. The main fields of activity in the industry are: energy plants, petrol, gas and mining. Specialized in agreements in the energy industry, Aksan has also participated in significant privatizations in this field as a legal consultant.

Healthcare and pharmaceuticals: Providing services to both national and international clients, Aksan’s department of healthcare and pharmaceuticals law provides services relating to the settlement of any contractual and administrative disputes arising from industrial activities.

Enforcement and bankruptcy law: Aksan has significant experience in the field of debt enforcement and bankruptcy law. Aksan carries out comprehensive investigations to determine all properties belonging to the debtor, including real estate as well as rights and receivables in third persons under execution proceedings with the purpose of collecting receivables in the field of Execution and Bankruptcy Law. Such services also include following litigation proceedings at execution courts and general courts for the resolution of disputes between the creditor/the debtor and third persons.

Immigration law: Turkey, a country in the center of the global change in the macro dynamics of international economic migration, has gone from being an emigrant geography to an immigrant one within the past quarter-century. Operating in such a country, Aksan actively provides legal consultancy services in a wide range of legal issues in the field of foreigners and citizenship law. Aksan’s team of qualified lawyers and foreign consultants contains the required skills to deal with problems that have an element of foreignness.

Labor and social security law: Aksan works in close proximity to the human resources departments of its clients, ensuring that all procedures during the employment process are conducted in compliance with legal regulations from beginning to end. It also provides support in redrafting implementations of its clients for their compliance with legislation when necessary.

Litigation and dispute resolution: Aksan has unparallel experience in the follow-up of judicial and arbitral proceedings on a national and international scale. It renders services in a wide range of litigation, arbitration and dispute resolution cases. Aksan is particularly experienced in litigations relating to commercial agreements and the enforcement of foreign arbitral awards in Turkey.

Further, Aksan offers effective solutions both in litigation and in cases where a settlement can be reached before legal action is taken. Aksan has established many amicable agreements and has helped settle a significant amount of arbitration cases with the support of its broad network, national and international. Aksan works together with other leading law firms around the world in order to better meet the needs of its distinguished clients.

Mergers and acquisitions: The lawyers of Aksan have vast experience representing multinational corporations, venture capitals, private equities, local and global small and mid-sized companies, and investment banks in each step of mergers and acquisitions, takeovers, joint ventures and carve-outs.
Thanks to unique relations established with its clients over many years, Aksan fully understands relevant industry dynamics and combines those with its experience in an effort to meet clients’ needs in a most efficient way.

Real estate law: Aksan also specializes in real­ estate development projects and has extensive experience in carrying out various transactions such as selling, purchasing, and renting, the establishment of real and personal rights on real estate and conducting negotiations in this respect. Additionally, Aksan provides real estate owners and investors with consultancy services on transfer and management. Aksan has a wide range of clients in the real estate industry, including domestic and foreign investors.

Tax law: Aksan advises its clients on their Turkish tax issues including, but not limited to, corporate income tax, income tax, value added tax, stamp duty, real estate tax, custom duties, municipal taxes, transfer pricing, banking and insurance transaction tax and resource utilization.

Information technology and data protection law: The department of information technology law provides comprehensive and solution-oriented legal services in specific fields such as information technology, licensing, dispensations, derogations, and management of intellectual property rights with its specialized lawyers.

Since the Ministry of EU Affairs started the National Programmes for the Adoption of the Acquis, data protection law has started to develop and along with the release of the Turkish Law on the Protection of Personal Data numbered 6698, Aksan has served its clientele in attempting to comply with the law. This area being very new in Turkey, means Aksan is one of the preferred law firms giving consultancy, so that its clients are not faced with any penal sanction arising from the law and its to be-released-regulations.

Payment services and electronic money: Aksan Law Firm, while acknowledging the inevitable increase of non-cash payment methods and electronic money usage in individual and corporate areas, focuses heavily on the Payment Services and Electronic Money sectors, preparing agreements and risk analysis reports specific to the business models, guiding the clients to obtain an operating license under the relevant regulations, providing legal consultancy services for e-money and payment institutions.

The firm acts for a number of major domestic and international e-money and payment institutions operating in payment services and electronic money issuance fields.

Venture capital investments: At Aksan Law Firm, there is a dedicated team in the venture capital investments field. Such dedication helped Aksan to accumulate  tremendous experience and know-how in the field, which is quite rare in Turkey.

Aksan helps its clientele of venture capital funds and angel investors close their investments in Turkish tech startups fast and hassle-free.

Aksan serves its clients all the way through, starting from fund formation (or other investment vehicles) to drafting investment documents to negotiation. It also handles the closing phase.

• Japan desk: [email protected]
• China desk: [email protected]
• Indian desk: [email protected]
• MENA desk: [email protected]