About

What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years?

Before moving to Nusr-Et in December, 2019, I was in-house legal counsel for Koton, a leading Turkish retailer. Please find below a brief summary of my recent work experience during the last two years.

• Successfully reversed the illegal use of our trademark in Spain and the
  related decision taken by EUIPO by the General Court of the European Union
• Negotiated and finalised an International Master Franchise Agreement encompassing six countries
• Led a team of lawyers in a major complex commercial litigation dispute that involved many parties and their lawyers in Turkey
• Negotiated and settled various IP infringement disputes in Turkey and EU
• Represented the client in a major real estate litigation dispute in Turkey and successfully finalised the dispute
• Led local and global data protection and GDPR compliance teams

What have been the major external trends that have impacted your team’s work over the past two years (market developments, changing regulatory environment, political events etc.)?

There had been several trends that have significant impact on legal teams’ work. Among others most important ones are as below;

Turkish data protection law led to a significant increase in the workload of in-house legal departments. While the decisions of the Data Protection Board continued to be announced, they were explanatory and caused changes in the legal practices and resulted in re-arrangements from time to time.

On the other hand, as a result of shrinking of market in some specific sectors, some firms have gone through financial difficulties within past two years which eventually increased numbers of enforcement and execution procedures. Collection of receivables became a priority both for companies and their lawyers.

Finally, amendments to Turkish legislation aiming to reduce the domestic foreign exchange exposure of Turkish legal entities and individuals have a drastic impact on legal workload. While ability to select foreign currency in certain contracts between Turkish residents has been retricted, relevant legal documentation either drafted or revised or rearranged.

What will be the main focus for the company in the next 12 months and how do you intend to assist with this?

Main focus will be expansion abroad, establishing new partnerships in overseas markets and increasing recognition in the international arena. As an in-house lawyer, I am aware of what is expected from me as a part of my day-to-day role, still the experience is nonetheless likely to be broad and fully embedded within the company and its business. Last but not least, an important part of my job involves working efficiently with law firms who provide specialist advice in different jurisdictions.

What techniques do you use to provide commercially-focused and optimal business advice to your company? If so, how do you get these across to more junior lawyers in the team?

My team and I, we try to take an active role in the community where we do business. While it is important to become active participants in the business community, it is also important to influence policy makers with business realities. We want to make sure that we are watching for changes and opportunities in the business environment and build sustainable relationships.

In what ways do you see the in-house legal role in evolving in your region over the next few years?

In-house legal counsel who have strong business acumen shall change the companies in a more positive way. Commercial awareness, understanding the business environment together with the clients’ needs shall evolve lawyers into business people who balance the spirit of an agreement with the best commercial legal advice. Lawyers with good communication skills that enable interaction with clients shall stand out while interpreting rapidly changing legal environment and implementing policies.

FOCUS ON: General counsel as business leaders

It would be acknowledged by many general counsel that in addition to legal issues we are facing, there is an ongoing demand for dealing with non-legal issues. It is a challenge to accomplish as much as possible within legal departments with no additional legal cost while maintaining the quality of the legal service.

While handling day-to-day work including transactional work, compliance work, engaging law firms, leading programmes regarding regulatory changes, transformation, risk management and many other tasks either defined in the job description or not, it can be forgotten that we, general counsel, are expected to be more than just lawyers. Managing legal departments as operational units, with focus on cost and efficiency is one of many targets general counsel are expected to achieve. However, there are many other assignments with significant importance and impact on the business that need to be fulfilled by the general counsel as well.

General counsel are expected to be business leaders with strategic vision having impact on the overall business. In order to achieve such high standards, legal executives should gain wide knowledge about the industry or the business they are operating in. Ability to perform broader thinking and having business minded approach shall distinguish the general counsel as business leaders. Moreover, those who have the ability to empathise with colleagues and stakeholders with strong communication skill shall stand out from the crowd.

Having said that, organisational dynamics of the corporations should also enable the active involvement of general counsel as business leaders in senior management. Corporate culture should transform business-savvy general counsel into business leaders who are able to balance business and legal concerns.

In today’s world, risk is a part of the business, therefore it should be managed as a part of business, not as a separate activity. General counsel are the right people to have in-depth knowledge about the companies, the operations and the business together with the legal concerns therefore can play active roles and support the business to grow and fortify.