What has been the number one challenge that has impacted you over the past year?

The biggest challenge that affected me last year was the high number of resignations across my team and the organisation as a whole. With the lingering effects of the pandemic and the subsequent resignation trend, it has been challenging to keep the team motivated and maintain effective internal communications. I personally experienced how high the cost of a valuable employee leaving the organisation is, and thus focused more on increasing employee retention within the team.

In your opinion, what areas should in-house lawyers focus on over the next few years to prove value to their organisations in Türkiye?

At a time when specialisation in law is becoming increasingly prized, I think it is critical for in-house lawyers to broaden their legal and technical knowledge. For senior in-house positions (like general counsel), I think it is important not to limit their know-how to a core area of specialisation, but to have advanced general knowledge of all legal facets that might affect their company’s operations. It is my firm belief that focusing on regulatory compliance in areas such as sector-specific regulations, competition law, data protection, etc. will be valuable to in-house lawyers’ organisations over the next few years in Türkiye.

Could you share an example of a time when you came up with an innovation that improved how your legal team works and did not come at a large expense?

With an influx of new team members during and after the pandemic, effectively transferring previous know-how and systems knowledge during the onboarding phase was of utmost importance. We were limited in our training capacity due to the constraints of the pandemic and had to rely on a recorded orientation video and written material, our ‘Team Constitution’, outlining key processes. In feedback we received from our newly integrated colleagues, these onboarding materials we prepared (for little to no cost) were effective in streamlining and quickening the training process.