Tell us about your career choice and journey. And what made you decide to get into law?
During my years at high school, I did not necessarily dream of becoming a lawyer with great enthusiasm. However, I do believe that studying law greatly improves one’s life vision and gusto. I also believe that law is a field that touches your whole life while your knowledge touches and benefits the lives of so many other people, thus creating a spiritual satisfaction. For this reason, when I look back on my high school days today, I can honestly say that I am glad I chose this profession despite all its difficulties.
On the other hand, the various commercial sectors that a lawyer can work in after an undergraduate education are quite wide. This paves the way for you to practice your profession for many years in both a dependent and independent manner. As I have seen from my close circle of friends, there are those who are lawyers who work in different commercial areas and sectors of law.
So, to summarize; I believe that having a law degree provides many benefits to a person – analytical thinking, having options and opportunities in different commercial areas, and creating a view and consciousness about life and society.
What are the most important factors when considering a career in law?
If you are planning a career in law, you need to enjoy reading, learning, and being open to innovations while constantly updating yourself. And you also need to have good human relations and communication. As a lawyer who has been practicing law for many years, one of the basic building blocks of this profession that you should have, is a very good command of the updates on changing legislation and being able to correctly understand the demands of your clients, whether as real persons or merchants that you guide them through their risks.
On the other hand, I also believe that specializing in one area of law is also a differentiating factor among your colleagues, which you can of course understand fully by experiencing many areas that interest you in practice. For this reason, I do believe it of great benefit to work in boutique offices where you can experience work in different areas versus your student years.
In addition to practicing law, I also believe that post-graduate master’s degrees, certificate programs and other academic investments will provide many benefits on the way to you becoming a good and preferred lawyer to clients.
Finally, I also recommend my young colleagues to have a very good command of at least one foreign language, especially English. At this point, your knowledge of legal English will take you a few steps forward on the career ladder.
You are currently studying a second master’s degree at Brussels School of Competition. Did you find competition law, or did competition law find you when being inspired to become a lawyer?
If you are practicing as an in-house lawyer, you are obliged to ensure that the organization you work for complies with legislations. For this reason, I believe that areas closely related to compliance such as personal data protection and competition law are so important. I completed my first master’s degree at
Bahçeşehir University after finishing my undergraduate education with a thesis in the field of private law, mainly in the field of personal data protection law. Subsequently, my interest in competition law started with certificate training that I received in the field of competition law and the organizations I worked for. I then realized that I was interested in this field of law.
I believe competition law is at the intersection of economics and law and that companies need competent lawyers in this field. A corporate lawyer should establish a close relationship with economics to analyze the legal risk of the organization correctly. Since competition law is a very dynamic, applicable, and global field, I decided to study hard in this area of law.
The fact that Turkish legislation and resources within the scope of competition law and the European Union legislation are very parallel also played a major role in my decision to take further education at a Brussels-based university that specifically focuses on competition law. The opportunity has enabled me to closely follow European Union law practices and to develop my own vision by having the chance to receive training from such high level competent foreign academics and practitioners. Of course, I believe that all these and similar training enables you to make an innovative and value-added contribution not only to yourself but also to the functioning of the institutions you work in.
You worked as a private practice lawyer at Kireççi Law Firm until 2019 before moving in-house where you have continued as legal counsel. What has been your experience as a woman working in both private practice and in-house environments?
I feel it is important for every newly graduated colleague to first work in boutique law office, to experience various jobs in various sectors. This will also give you a direction as to which area of law you want to work in. Following this same path, I started my career at a law firm and did later choose to work as an in-house lawyer.
Both have different pros and cons, but the benefit of working in any organization is that you are more familiar with the sector that your organization specializes in and therefore you know the areas of that sector far better. In addition, your working hours, benefits, and job descriptions are all set.
On the other hand, working in different departments within an organization teaches you to work closely with many people and to look at situations from a commercial and managerial perspective. In short, your perspective in managing situations greatly broadens.
What are your reflections on the culture of diversity and inclusion in the legal profession in Türkiye?
As to my observations, most in-house lawyers are women. This, in my opinion, is the most important indicator of how effective and powerful women are in the commercial, managerial, and legal areas of companies. Many of my female colleagues that I know play a major role in the commercial and managerial decisions of large and global companies, which is very flattering.
I think that the detail-oriented and observational skills women lawyers have, combined with their excellent communication skills and their ability to present risks to the organizations they work for in are very valuable. I believe the Turkish legal market is very supportive of women lawyers in this direction.
How do you see the new generation of women lawyers?
Compared to myself, I do observe that my young female colleagues know far much more which areas of law they want to work in and observe more closely which direction of opportunities ae available. My
general observation in this regard is that they participate in various competitions organized by universities, try to identify their areas of interest by working in different law offices and companies, and at the same time contact various colleagues from the sector, which is very good for their personal career development. Many of my colleagues at the beginning of their careers ask me for my opinion in the form of mentoring. I think it is very valuable to even have a mentor by your side.
If you weren’t a lawyer, what would you be?
If I wasn’t a lawyer, I would be a clinical psychologist, because I like to listen to people and offer my opinion and solutions to their problems – should they ask for my opinion. I think I have high empathy skills, so I like to think about a subject in detail, to look at different perspectives and to bring people together with different perceptions and ways of thinking.
As a matter of fact, your perception forms your thinking, and your thinking forms your behavior. However, the basis of the lawyer’s profession is that you are expected to be able to find fast and accurate solutions to the demands/problems asked of you and to develop them. Therefore, I think both professions are similar in this sense.
Which women have inspired you the most?
I am lucky that I have had the opportunity to meet many women who can inspire me in life and become a family. From my mentors with whom I did my internship, to my close friends and my esteemed female colleagues in the legal community, I am surrounded by precious women who share their opinions with me whenever I need them, enlighten my path, and act as a big sister and sisterhood.
For this reason, I value the mentor and mentee relationship very much and I try to support my young colleagues as much as I can. Although it is not right to mention a specific name as I cannot distinguish any of them from each other, one of the most important examples for me in this regard is my mother, who inspires me with her intelligence and compassion, who works at the basis of everything and stands on her own two feet, and from whom I always draw my strength.
What motivates and inspires you?
Doing and producing work that touches the lives of people and seeing it benefit them. This motivates me. All my relatives who make me feel lucky with their presence are a source of inspiration for me.
In your career so far what achievement are you most proud of?
In general, it pleases me immensely to see the results of the work I do. Although my primary duty as an in-house lawyer is to provide preventive legal counseling, I am happy to take part in the preparation of procedures in accordance with the rights of people and the law in places where people receive services within the organization I work for.
On the other hand, my most unforgettable moment was making a defense in the hearing of a case in the Supreme Court of Appeals to overturn the adverse verdict in favor of a favorable verdict. This moral satisfaction is worth all the tireless effort given.
How do you manage your current work / life balance?
Due to the nature of our profession, we have a tiresome, stressful, solution based and time-oriented job. For this reason, I try to use the working hours carefully – concentrate during the day, aiming to have my evenings to myself.
However, of course, this can be disrupted in urgent matters. I believe that prioritizing and scheduling your work, keeping an agenda with time management makes it easier. I also believe that clearing your mind with hobbies in private together with an active social life makes people much happier and as a result far more concentrated on their work.
What advice would you give to female students who are about to enter the legal industry?
As I have said in my answers above, I recommend that they work hard and diligently, get to know themselves, invest in themselves academically and socially, learn a foreign language and trust and value themselves. Set goals, increase the zest for life and LWAYS love yourself. Make it a point to have an opinion about the world. Don’t forget to seek the opinions of your professional elders and always take on board and acknowledge their criticisms.