Team size: Five

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

The biggest challenge of last year was that although it was the first “normal” year after the pandemic, things had not completely broken away from the pandemic conditions resulting in operations running much slower than they were. I hope we will have a real normal year this year.

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

I think that the areas where corporate lawyers should concentrate should be transparency and returning to the essence of our roles.

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?

We decided to apply to the courts of each jurisdiction that our group operates in, to restructure the company’s debts. The reason why we have applied in each jurisdiction is not only to protect the group company that resides within this country but also there were cross-guaranties between such group companies. We have managed successfully to have protection from the courts to continue our operations and execute restructuring contracts with our debtors. We also managed to execute restrictive contracts with most of our debtors. I basically say that these litigations saved the company go bankrupt and it should be “the” ultimate innovation for any company in this situation.