Can you please give us an idea of the sort of work your team has done recently (cases, transactions, projects)?

Our competition law program includes a roadmap evaluating commercial contracts which may cause competition problems. Before starting this training, we organised meetings with each relevant department heads to have better understanding on each function. As a result of these trainings and collaborations, our company has not been fined by Turkish Competition Authority. In addition, I am also leading our data privacy compliance program along with our IT department. Data privacy is an area that continuously brings new issues to the table. For instance, at the beginning of the Covid vaccine distribution, there was a huge debate on whether we could ask employees their vaccine situation or require them to be vaccinated, still largely unresolved.

How do you suggest in-house lawyers build strong relationships with business partners?

I consider compliance and risk management as one of the main functions of a legal department. As the head of Domino Türkiye legal, I have a crucial duty to manage business partners’ interests and balance it with legal and compliance elements required to the company. Leading a legal department requires a strong business expertise. At the beginning of my career, I focused on analysing legal risks without considering business perspectives. However, I realised now that it was a mistake, and handling contract requires both legal and commercial understanding. Majority of legal issues boil down to commercial decisions in a corporate setting, and it is important for legal departments to assist top management of business to allowed them to make a decision with both commercial and legal awareness.

Which recent political, economic, or regulatory changes have impacted the company and the team the most?

Since the second half of 2021, there has been a serious inflation problem in Türkiye. This had seriously impacted on our budget and contract management. For instance, landlords of our stores requested high rent increases as a result of inflation and in some cases, if we were not able to negotiate an outcome, we had to bring an action before courts like many other retail companies in Türkiye.

Unfair pricing has been an issue generating a significant amount of coverage and discussion over the last few years. At the early stages of the pandemic, most people started to buy a huge amount of goods, especially the ones related to Covid-19 including masks and protective products. Unfortunately, some market players abused this high demand and increased their price to an unreasonable degree. This situation affected consumer welfare and protection negatively and Turkish Unfair Assessment Board was established within several months. Board started to investigate companies which increased their prices unreasonably and imposed fines.