M. Emre Akkaş, Founder & Managing Partner
The Founder and Managing Partner of Akkaş & Partners Law Firm speaks about the international expansion of the law firm.
1) What do you see as the main points that differentiate Akkaş & Partners Law Firm from your competitors?
Akkaş & Partners Law Firm has differentiated itself from other law firms in several ways including: its international reach
as well as diversity and inclusion.
International reach: In addition to offering legal services nationally in the various provinces of Turkey, the Law Firm also has a strong and active international desk. Akkaş & Partners has been working with its international partners on several matters, to offer legal solutions to cross-border problems and challenges.
Diversity and Inclusion: Akkaş & Partners is made up of 60% women, and has consultants from various countries beyond Turkey. These consultants are particularly important when serving international clients, especially in ensuring that their language needs are met.
Academic Development: One of the objectives of Akkaş & Partners is to promote academic development. In this regard, the law firm publishes informative articles, organises webinars and presentations, and has internal trainings for its team members to ensure their capacity and expertise are developed.
2) Which practices do you see growing in the next 12 months? What are the drivers behind that?
In the next 12 months, the following practices are most likely to grow:
Sports law: We have recently increased our efforts and resources in providing legal services in sports law, to various people in sports, especially in football.
Media and Entertainment Law: Although we have been offering services in media and entertainment law to some of our clients, we are increasing the number of our clients in this area.
International law: We have established an international desk which offers services to clients in Europe, Africa and the Gulf. Although it only serves a few countries in each of those regions, in 12 months, we will serve more countries ensuring geographical expansion.
The main driver for the growth in these areas is the introduction into our team of members with expertise and experience in these areas.
3) What's the main change you've made in the firm that will benefit clients?
The law firm has made significant changes in its physical infrastructure, as it moved to a bigger place. Additionally, the firm has increased its team members, meaning that the skills and expertise at the law firm have increased. For instance, in addition to Turkish and English, the new team members bring with them language capabilities in German, French and Russian. The infrastructural development and human resources increase will ensure that our clients’ various needs are met.
4) Is technology changing the way you interact with your clients, and the services you can provide them?
Technology plays an important role in managing the Law Firm’s workload, as well as the manner in which we provide our services. We have been using ‘Attornaid’ to manage and synchronize our work. We have also introduced Artificial Intelligence (AI) in our work, such as in research and drafting.
Technology is important in our interactions with clients as it has improved our communications. The introduction of online meeting tools has reduced the number of in-person meetings and has allowed for real-time communication regardless of geographical locations.
Embracing technology has improved our delivery of services significantly. Our clients are therefore assured high quality services.
5) Can you give us a practical example of how you have helped a client to add value to their business
Akkaş & Partners works actively with Start-ups ensuring that they have strong legal foundations. Through the guidance offered by our law firm, several start-ups were able to start off strongly and our continued guidance has ensured that they don’t fall into legal troubles that could be detrimental to their growth. We ensured that they meet all the requirements and follow all the procedures for establishment, as well as operate within the proper legal frameworks, observing all the necessary rules and regulations. Proper guidance of start-ups is essential to ensure success and longevity of the business, and Akkaş & Partners is working to ensure this is the case for its start-up business clients.
6) Are clients looking for stability and strategic direction from their law firms - where do you see the firm in three years’ time?
Clients are looking for stability and strategic direction from their law firms. However, stability is not synonymous with failing to advance and develop. Stability sought by clients is in ensuring that the law firm continuously provides services of the highest quality, which is one of the aims of Akkaş & Partners. Akkaş & Partners continues to seek development in the legal field, in terms of: its areas of practice, clientele, increasing the beneficial use of IT, geographical expansion, as well as infrastructural growth.
In three years’ time, we hope to have made an impact in the legal field nationally and internationally. We aim to establish ourselves more internationally through partnering with more law firms, handling more matters with international clients, and achieve higher deal values of the legal matters we handle.
We would also like to have increased the number of lawyers; the number of practice areas and sectors; and to have kept up with technological advancements.