Head of legal affairs | The Walt Disney Company
Bürke Şerbetçi Arabacı
Head of legal affairs | The Walt Disney Company
What are the most significant cases or transactions that your legal team has recently been involved in?
Collaborating with the teams on regulatory, content acquisition, marketing and sales processes during post-launch phase of Disney+ in Türkiye, rebranding of our linear channel from “FOX” to “NOW” and various content acquisitions were the highlights of the recent matters that kept us busy.
Following successful launch of Disney+ service in Türkiye, our team has focused on incorporating the additional local regulatory processes to our workflow, which mainly consists of additional reporting requirements to the Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTUK) and implementation of the rules and regulations to our new service. We have also continued to acquire content for our digital and linear channel operations.
Throughout your career, what principles or values have guided your approach to leadership and decision-making within the legal department, and how do you believe they have contributed to your success?
Transparency and building a trust-based relationship within the legal department and our internal clients and outside partners have been a guiding principle for me. My motto and main missions are to establish, encourage and preserve a working environment where the sole challenge is the work itself. I believe this allows us to bring the best version of ourselves to work and therefore learn and grow collectively.
What has helped me to implement the above is working constantly on preserving my integrity as integrity is a true value and a necessity in our profession and it is also a virtue that one should continuously work on. What has always supported building integrity throughout my team is to try to be the example of what I want to see and experience in others. This probably all boils down to sticking to a continuous growth in life. If integrity is combined with a genuine kindness and maybe sense of humor, there is hardly any situation that this combination cannot resolve.
Successful decisions are generally a result of an environment where team members can speak their minds and are heard. I try to listen to different thoughts, like to challenge others and to be challenged myself by my colleagues. I learn a lot and truly enjoy our professional discussions with my colleagues.
Last but not least, adopting a business-friendly approach across our workstream has always been the key to my and my team’s success and professional satisfaction.
As someone who has achieved remarkable success in the legal profession, what advice would you offer to aspiring general counsels or young legal professionals seeking to make a meaningful impact in their careers?
Helping others and being problem solvers is the essence of our profession. Throughout your life improve your hard and soft skills to sharpen your ability to solve more complex problems. This can be achieved in many ways. While enhancing your knowledge of law and being an expert in an area you enjoy, make sure you invest sufficient time to improve your soft skills. Find a way to bring your true self to work each day as this is the best way to honor yourself, life and your work.
Lastly, as challenging as it may be, try to listen more than you talk.
""Bürke Şerbetçi Arabacı is a highly influential and innovative general counsel (GC) who has made significant contributions to the organisation and the legal profession. Bürke began her career as a legal intern at the Bank of Interbank after completing her law degree at Istanbul University Faculty of Law, which is one of Turkey's oldest and most prestigious law schools. Following her legal internship, she worked as an attorney at two prominent law firms, spending the early years of her professional life in a highly productive and effective manner. Bürke expanded her legal vision with an LLM degree at Georgetown University in the USA, specialising in contract law during her time as an Attorney there. Returning to Turkey, she became a Lecturer at Bilgi University while pursuing her doctoral education. Although she continues to maintain ties with academia, she started her senior position within Turkcell, one of Turkey's largest publicly traded communication companies, in her main field of business. Having worked for about 5 years in the Corporate Legal Affairs Department with a diverse portfolio of both domestic and international connections, she has led various projects. Furthermore, she has established strong relationships with many foreign investors and has proven her competence by assuming all the responsibilities that come with working in a corporate firm, addressing the legal needs of the company, particularly in international, corporate, and commercial law. After 5 years, she made a fresh start at Schoenherr, a corporate law firm in Central and Eastern Europe. Around 300 lawyers advise on national and international commercial mandates. She worked for almost 7 years in the corporate law departments of this law firm as a Senior Lawyer. After this long journey, Bürke has decided to take a step into the media industry, which is a brand new field where she can utilise all of her experiences. She started as a Legal Manager in the Corporate and Commercial Legal Affairs Department and quickly moved to the world-renowned Fox company with her successful steps and leadership qualities. Since November 2018, Bürke has gained great prestige not only in the media industry but also at the company's headquarters, thanks to the innovations she has brought to the legal department and her role as Vice President, Head of Legal & Business Affairs for the Fox Networks Group, bridging the gap between the global and Turkish markets. In fact, starting from June 2019, following the acquisition of 21st Century Fox by The Walt Disney Company, Bürke's role has been expanded to Head of Legal at The Walt Disney Company Turkey, in addition to her VP Legal and Business Affairs role at Fox Networks Group, working in both positions at the world's largest media company, The Walt Disney Company. In addition to being an expert in different areas Bürke also contributes as a speaker at various sustainability-themed events such as the Global Marketing Summit, taking steps as an activist for animal rights, education and environmental rights, and children's rights, fulfilling her responsibility towards the world and the environment." "
Head of legal | The Walt Disney Company
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.)? First of all, my...
Principal counsel, corporate operations and rest of Latin America
The Walt Disney Company
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Principal counsel, corporate operations and rest of Latin America
The Walt Disney Company
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