Team size: Three

What are the most significant cases or transactions that your legal team has recently been involved in?

I joined Mikrogrup, a group of nine software companies, as chief legal officer in January 2022 to establish the legal department from scratch and I have been working there for two years.

Mikrogrup is an important player in the technology industry, providing end-to-end business software solutions for corporate applications, cloud-based accounting, e-transformation software and fintech.

When I first joined the company, I focused on the legal infrastructure and compliance issues of group companies and started legal compliance programs.

Currently, my legal team and I are working to keep up with the rapid changes in the technology and fintech industries, with the help of the legal firms that support us, our experience, our solutions, and user-centric perspective, and monitoring the agenda closely.

Some of the examples of projects that we have accomplished in a short period are: (i)Legal infrastructure and compliance work for the group companies — although there are many grey areas in technology and fintech regulations and many of the projects had never been executed in Türkiye before, we established a secure legal infrastructure and achieved legal compliance while maintaining customer satisfaction. (ii)Some of the most important examples of such projects are Fintech Data Sharing and API Projects.We executed various cooperation and integration projects, such as the transfer of client information with its consent to fintech companies acting as intermediaries to share such information with financial organisations to enable them to conduct financial risk assessments of our clients. The goals of fintech data sharing projects are to save our customers from the inconvenience of having to provide the same information to multiple financial organizations and thus facilitating our customers’ access to the financial system and contributing to the development of the fintech industry. (iii) In addition, we aimed for third-party software developers’ software programmes to be integrated with our company’s products through their APIs, so our company’s API standards were established and shared with such third parties to enable them to comply with these API standards and ensure reliable and legal cooperation.

My team member Burcu Çavdar Karaaslan, our senior legal counsel, has supported and contributed significantly to our legal compliance work and our process of adapting to the rapid changes in the industry with her experience in technology and fintech, her analytical and meticulous approach and her passion for learning.

We were also very active on the M&A side of things. In July 2023, the majority of Mikro Yazılım’s shares were purchased by TeamSystem and our legal team worked efficiently and successfully during this process. The acquisition of E-Mükellef by Mikrogrup was particularly highlighted in the Türkiye Ecosystem Report -2022 of the Finance Office of Presidency of the Republic of Türkiye and the legal infrastructure and compliance processes were successfully managed by our legal team during this acquisition.

What strategic priorities are guiding you and your team in 2024?

Our 2024 strategic priorities focus on ensuring legal compliance and embracing technological advances: We lead the way in ensuring full legal compliance and building a robust legal infrastructure within our software, e-transformation, and technology-driven projects. At the same time, we manage our projects and products in line with the latest technology, dynamic user requirements, and evolving regulations.

We also want to establish a compliance department within our legal department through the establishment of a legal compliance programme that encompasses all legal compliance processes by expanding the scope of the compliance processes currently managed by our legal team to ensure alignment with the compliance requirements of our global shareholders.

Additionally, we will work on the digitalisation of legal operations such as automating and digitising key legal processes such as contract management, project evaluation, and data protection review.

Do you have a cause, business-related or otherwise, that you are passionate about?

My primary life goal is to maintain happiness with my husband, daughter, and son.

Professionally, I am passionate about the interaction of computer technologies, AI, and law and the struggle of law to keep up with technology. I believe legal professionals have a significant responsibility and room for growth. I believe continuous self-development and learning play an essential role in this process. With this belief, I have completed the computer science for lawyers programme (Harvard). I aim to further my education in AI and ethics to enhance my contribution to this field.

One of my aspirations is to share my experience in technology and corporate law and life with young colleagues or law students and prepare them for corporate life. I aim to realise this in the near future through associations and unions.