ELIG Gürkaynak Attorneys-at-Law

The firm: ELIG Gürkaynak Attorneys-at-Law is an eminent, independent Turkish law firm based in Istanbul. The firm was founded in 2005.  ELIG Gürkaynak is committed to providing its clients with high-quality legal services and combines a solid knowledge of Turkish law with a business-minded approach to develop legal solutions that meet the ever-changing needs of its clients in their international and domestic operations.

ELIG Gürkaynak has established close working relationships with a number of international law firms and has served mutual clients on numerous mergers and acquisitions transactions, competition law matters, commercial arbitrations and various other projects. The firm also has formal alliances with two Turkish law firms in Ankara and Izmir.

Areas of practice: ELIG Gürkaynak takes pride in being able to assist its clients in all fields of law.  The firm’s legal team consists of 95 lawyers.

The firm’s particular areas of expertise include competition law, corporate law, mergers and acquisitions, contracts law, anti-corruption, white-collar irregularities and compliance, Internet law, technology, media and telecommunications law, data protection and cybersecurity law, banking and finance law, litigation and dispute resolution, administrative law, real estate law, anti-dumping law, pharma and healthcare regulatory, employment law and intellectual property law.

ELIG Gürkaynak delivers the top competition law practice in Turkey with 52 competition law specialists. The team is led by Dr Gönenç Gürkaynak, ELIG Gürkaynak’s founding partner, along with four partners and nine counsel. In addition to its unparalleled experience in merger control issues, ELIG Gürkaynak has vast experience in defending companies before the Turkish Competition Board in all phases of antitrust investigations, abuse of dominant position cases, leniency handlings and before the courts on issues of private enforcement of competition law, along with appeals of the administrative decisions of the Turkish Competition Authority.

Unlike many firms in Turkey, ELIG Gürkaynak has a recognised and significant practice in IT and telecommunications law. The practice covers domain name disputes, website agreements, internet copyright and internet trademarks, internet-related litigation, regulatory counselling, notice and takedown or judiciary decision enforcement assistance and localisation of telecom agreements and licenses to be signed with carriers.

ELIG Gürkaynak has a significant practice in Turkey, focusing on internal investigations and white-collar criminal matters. Among other things, the practice advises clients in connection with Turkish corporate compliance issues under the relevant OECD Convention, FCPA, the UK Bribery Act and Turkish anti-corruption laws. This includes all matters relating to data privacy, employment law, anti-corruption policies and other related aspects of the Turkish legal regime.

ELIG Gürkaynak’s corporate team assists multinational and domestic clients by providing a wide range of corporate advisory services.  The firm represents local and multinational conglomerates in numerous M&A projects, and the M&A team has vast experience and capability in handling multiple and significant M&A transactions, reorganisations, joint ventures and spin-offs. The firm’s corporate team has a solid practice in providing commercial and corporate law services to corporations, advising foreign clients during their entry to the Turkish market, and on daily operations thereafter.

ELIG Gürkaynak handles complex intellectual property matters, each one of which sets a precedent in the market. ELIG Gürkaynak’s intellectual property team provides clients with a complete range of legal services for protecting and exploiting all types of intellectual property and technology assets. The firm’s dedicated team of three partners and two counsel along with twelve associates also offer invaluable knowledge and track record in other practice areas where they are pioneers.

The firm renders a wide variety of litigation and arbitration services. The firm specialises and has very significant expertise in debt enforcement.

ELIG Gürkaynak also has a strong practice in administrative law. Dr Gönenç Gürkaynak heads the practice, which has grown significantly due to representations in numerous appeals.