Team size: Six

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

Adapting to the realities of the pandemic era required substantial changes to the general conduct of the workplace, as it did for many companies in various sectors. Over the past year, it has been a challenge, in the aftermath of the pandemic, to switch back to the pre-Covid-19 era, while also retaining the lessons learned during the past period. Within the same term, certain works have also started to be followed up via in-house counsels, as opposed to outsourcing them. Accordingly, a new system had to be set up wherein the workload was re-distributed among the members of the legal team; which also required new mechanisms for coordination and general oversight. Since all these changes were of substantial nature affecting the general conduct of the works, implementing the newly taken measures and ensuring that the mechanisms put in place were functioning properly and efficiently was the main challenge of the past 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?

As is the case for the majority of companies all over the world, sustainability should be one of the priorities to which in-house lawyers should pay attention. While this has been a matter of discussion in the global north for some time now, its importance has also started to be realised in Türkiye in more recent years. As such, providing legal support and guidance to their company’s environmental, social and corporate governance processes should be of high importance, not only for the in-house lawyers but also their respective companies as well, especially considering that establishing company-wide sustainable practices requires a cross-discipline approach, an aspect of which should most certainly be a “legal” point of view. Apart from this, the input of the legal departments should also be taken into account when evaluating the overall changing dynamics of the workplace. The traditional approaches should all be scrutinised and, if necessary, replaced; and in-house lawyers should take a proactive role in this process.

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?

Upon conducting a cost-benefit analysis, we have implemented specific software, particularly for data privacy processes. By utilising new technologies in this regard, we have eased the workload of the legal team, thereby enabling the legal team to better focus on other work. This has also allowed the relevant processes to be digitalised, creating an archive for the company. Apart from this, we have also invested in certain legal training courses, tailored specifically for employees that do not have a legal background. Through such training, aimed at raising legal awareness within the company, we expect to have a positive impact in both the short and long term.