Gunbay Kural Abbasoglu Law Firm

The firm: Günbay Kural Abbasoğlu Law Firm (GKA) is incorporated in 2016 by very well-known lawyers who are experts in their fields. The proactive and ambitious team aims to provide the highest quality, constant, tailor-made and practical legal solutions for its local and international clients in all sizes and various sectors. The firm was established by three founding partners and currently there are nine lawyers in total within the firm.

The team has extensive knowledge and expertise in advising its clients specifically in complex legal issues including but not limited to employment, corporate, litigation and tax matters.

The team is a trustworthy solution partner in consultancy and litigation matters and gives advice and provides services based on analysing the legal issues through sector specific perspective and know-how. The team informs its clients about the legislative developments on a timely basis. The firm has alliances with Turkish law firms in Ankara and Izmir.

Following the first year of our incorporation, GKA is ranked as “Leading Law Firm” and the founding partners are qualified as “Recommended Lawyers” on Employment Law in 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022 rankings of The Legal 500.

Areas of practice: GKA is one of Turkey’s few leading law firms housing a team of lawyers fully specialised in employment law. Our employment team focuses on high-profile employment and labour law, immigration law, social security law, trade union and collective bargaining law, work health and safety law matters in various sectors and provides proactive counselling to lead our clients through laws and regulations. Our underlying drive is to develop and implement employment policies designed to minimise risk and avoid litigation for employer from all industries. We act for clients in industries including but not limited to pharmaceuticals, medical devices, cosmetics, consumer products, services, technology, energy and charity.

Our compliance team provides specialised legal advice in all corporate compliance matters such as implementing data protection compliance rules, fraud, misappropriation, forgery of documents and unfair competition, internal and criminal investigations, legal proceedings and criminal litigation, abuse of trust by employees and directors and liabilities of directors and managers.

Our firm’s corporate and commercial law practitioners advise on every phase of a company’s establishment and growth, such as incorporation, capital financing, licensing and commercial agreements, public and private securities offerings, mergers & acquisitions and day-to-day company representation. Our firm establishes close working relationships with its clients and provides professional advice by considering their needs and the specifics of their industries. Preparing tailored full due diligence or executive reports depending on the needs of the clients, drafting, negotiating and reviewing share purchase and shareholders’ agreements, obtaining all necessary permits and accomplishing closing transactions are fulfilled by our firm.

The tax department of our firm has extensive experience on tax consulting and litigation and provides legal services in all matters relating to tax. Our objective is to help our clients manage their tax issues in the most effective way. In line with this aim, out tax department provides diverse perspectives and expertise to help clients maintain an effective relationship with the tax authorities throughout all the challenges of tax audit, tax compliance and tax planning. Our tax team has far-reaching tax expertise and is fully equipped to offer assistance in tax litigation and investigations, transfer pricing and taxation of corporate restructuring transactions. Our services include tax litigation, technical support in tax ruling application processes, preparation of documents and lists, and reviewing reports during tax inspections, and tax consulting during the reconciliation phase. We also assist in customs disputes and investigations, which has recently gained significant importance in Turkey.

Our firm’s dispute resolution team has extensive experience in providing assistance to sector leading businesses, operating both locally and abroad, in all aspects of preventing disputes and aiming to resolve issues prior to trial. Our lawyers collaborate with clients and their counterparts to identify and execute the most advantageous business-oriented solutions, either by pursuing or by defending in litigation proceedings, or through alternative methods such as mediation. Our approach is to help our clients avoid litigation wherever possible. When litigation is unavoidable, we discuss with our clients their objectives and evaluate the legal, commercial, reputational risks involved. We proceed on a basis tailored to our clients’ needs in line with our team’s experience. We represent international and local clients in high-level disputes before commercial, employment, administrative, tax, administrative and criminal courts and appeal processes. We also provide mediation services for civil law disputes including those with foreign elements, as regards to matters that are at the parties’ disposal, as one of our founding partners, Att. Ahu Pamukkale is a mediator registered under Ministry of Justice.