Senior legal counsel | Yandex Reklamcılık (Yandex Türkiye)
Elçin Erdeniz Onay
Senior legal counsel | Yandex Reklamcılık (Yandex Türkiye)
In the last two years I have been involved in valuable cooperation transactions with local partners. These collaborations helped us to increase our product to the desired level and to meet the needs of our users. Thus, Yandex. Navigator became the most beloved geographical application in Turkey. On the litigation side, we apply the “worst settlement is better than the best judgment.” approach. Certainly, the fact that all our stakeholders are compatible with Yandex working principles has contributed greatly to this understanding.
Yandex is a leading technology company, so we work on technologies that have never been experienced. As the legal department, we will keep assisting the operation in order to produce the necessary legal documentation that is needed and ensure these technologies comply with the law.
Inevitably, building strong relationships with partners ultimately allows a legal counsel to make a wider range of assessments. This will also enable the business to deep dive into assessment of current and prospective cooperation from a different perspective by including disciplinary diversity. Ultimately, this relationship makes a valuable contribution to the foundation of a strong cooperation and to the sustainability of it.
It is indisputable that technology will spread to every sector, including law. At this stage, we do not use a semi-autonomous system based on AI or a product that performs big data analysis, but we closely monitor the development of such products. It is evident that the rapid and accurate presentation of the advanced legal analyses requested by legal counsel will contribute. On the other side, we will be following the process of using AI at the trial stage like everyone else in the near future. It should not be forgotten that AI systems should be based primarily on the principle of humanity. Thus, although technology brings along some concerns, the aim is to pave the way for the development of the whole.
We operate in a market where there is a wide movement in terms of legislation. This requires us to follow developments on a daily or even instant basis. Recently, we have been met with new tax called “the digital service [tax]”. Last year, another tax regulation regarding online advertising was introduced. As many local legal advisers follow, data protection legislation and emerging secondary legislations also play a significant part in our agenda.
Of course, when our field of activity is developing technology, the development of new legislation is also inevitable. It is important to be able to analyse these regulations well and apply them towards the management of the company.
Internal counsel are aware that it is not easy for external counsel to master internal processes, developments and dynamics. In cases where the process is not managed correctly, the opinions of the consultants may include uniform legal information and reports that can be difficult to implement in your operation. First of all, in order to overcome this difficulty, it is necessary to set the expectations regarding the subject of consultancy in order to be able to reconcile their views with the operation of the company. Subsequently, another important point is to share efficient and sufficient company resources that they can evaluate in their work. Most importantly and lastly, external counsels are important stakeholders of legal counselors in the process. With this understanding, it is essential that they work together and maintain a healthy relationship with regular feedbacks.
The position of legal counsel in the organisation and in the community.
Many of us have witnessed the different positioning of legal counsel in our professional lives for many years. In this respect, there is no uniform practice and unfortunately it is difficult to say that even the basic principles are formed. These different practices are closely related to cultures of both geography and corporations. Ultimately, the position of legal counsel within the organisation directly correlate with the development of the legal perspective of a country and organisation. The following question probably comes to mind – how will legal counsel positions themselves if an adequate legal perspective has not been developed? I had the opportunity to reflect on this question and make self-criticism. Many of us provide legal services within legal organisations as a legal counsel, and being an in-house lawyer makes us more involved in commercial operations than any other lawyer. In this case, each of us stay focused on commercial corporate targets, aligning operations with maximum benefit and minimising damages. I see few of us that have significant legal battles in terms of principles of law. Perhaps we do not contemplate the meaning of the word “law” as before. We do discuss more on daily operations, but it remains “daily” eventually.
In order to make a permanent difference in the system, and although it is obvious that it will take a long time, I believe that legal counsel have great responsibilities and should be step up to the plate. First of all, they need to be sensitive to legal issues in society and to lead society in the development of a legal perspective. Similarly, you may have noticed that some organisations contribute to the development of the community they serve. Ultimately, [this leads to] an organisation achieving a sustainable and lasting benefit in the long run. I believe that the adoption of a similar approach as the legal community will have a major impact on the long-term success of legal counsel in achieving the desired position both within the organisation and within the community. While I finish these words; I would like to express sincerely that it is not impossible for us to leave an advanced legal perspective and understanding to the future generations.