About

Chief legal counsel Tolga Erendaç leads a team of 11 lawyers and four support staff at Burgan Bank Turkey. The team is divided into two main functions, consultancy and corporate governance and litigation. Nesteren Çalışkan is the head of consultancy and corporate governance, and Azer Sönmez is the head of litigation teams reporting directly to Erendaç. In the last two years, the team has focused on standardisation of documents more than ever to optimise the customer satisfaction and also to make the life easier for the bank’s staff when obtaining the necessary documentation from customers. Considering the busy workload, both the consultancy and litigation teams work closely and create a ‘powerful synergy’, according to Erendaç, enabling them to solve problems easier. Considering the current economic developments in Turkey, the legal team faces complex cases that need practical and wise solutions in terms of both consultancy and litigation. The team is adept at producing the best result for the company and working together to achieve this aim. It is a strength that it has demonstrated over the years recognised by its previous inclusion in the GC Powerlist: Turkey Teams series. Erendaç identifies this strength as being key to the team, highlighting that, ‘despite having sharp differences in the job descriptions, there is a strong synergy between the consultancy and litigation teams. Each team needs the other as one case which consultancy team deals with today may become a litigation case in future; so teamwork becomes even more valuable than ever’.