About

SOCAR (The State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic), is one of the leading oil companies in the region. Its Turkish operation began in 2008 and having pumped almost $20bn of investment into it since then, SOCAR Türkiye is aiming to become Turkey’s largest power producer. Assisting the company in achieving its goals by ensuring it operates in a legally-sound manner is the decorated in-house lawyer Elif Şen, who became SOCAR Türkiye’s chief legal officer in October 2016. Şen is both highly regarded and respected in Turkey’s in-house legal circles, having held a number of senior positions in the country’s most successful companies. Before SOCAR Türkiye, she was chief legal counsel at Odeabank, a prominent domestic financial services company. Between 2002 and 2014, Şen worked at Sabancı Holding, Turkey’s leading industrial and financial conglomerate, holding the chief legal counsel position from 2011 onwards. With a professional legal career that dates back to 1994, Şen has built a reputation of being a specialist in joint ventures, corporate governance and intellectual property in particular, skills which she can draw in her current role when facilitating SOCAR Türkiye’s growth plans.