Interview with: Çiğdem Bal Ilgın, Founding Partner, SSI Law Firm

What do you see as the main points that differentiate SSI Law Firm from your competitors?

Our experience and qualifications. We truly believe in investing in people. As can be seen from our detailed firm profile, all the team members have outstanding project experience from having worked on a number of projects which are considered as the biggest projects in Turkey in the past 30 years. This experience enables us to provide the best legal advice in a time and cost effective manner.

Which practices do you see growing in the next 12 months? What are the drivers behind that?

Despite the economic difficulties and pandemic effects in the past years, M&A sector in Turkey is still active and the total project value is increasing compared to 2019 and 2020. We believe the market will continue to expand in 2022, given the attractiveness in specific sectors such as technology, digital gaming, e-trade, packing, food and energy and due to the relatively low interest rates in financing.

Aviation and airport operation sector will also grow rapidly given the recent loosening of the pandemic restrictions globally. We know that the local actors have not been affected as serious as expected which will also accelerate the growth in these sectors once travel restrictions, and general pandemic restrictions are relieved.

Finally with the emerging of the blockchain technology and cryptocurrency in Turkey, we are expecting to have a new set of legislation introduced within the next year for establishing a level of security and control in the market. We are already active in this sector and expect to engage in more projects with a potential growth after the introduction of new legislation.

What’s the main change you’ve made in the firm that will benefit clients?

As SSI is a newly established firm, I may not be able to talk about major changes but I can talk about starting points where we set our standard of service. We dedicated our team to provide the best legal advice to our clients and we welcome our clients to benefit from our experience and highly qualified team in their legal needs.

Is technology changing the way you interact with your clients, and the services you can provide them?

Technology continues to change the way we work. It is essential for us lawyers to quickly adopt to the developments in technology and we implement that in our firm. We are using our own software which enables us to organize our legal database duly, follow up our clients’ time dependent tasks (especially for contract management matters) and enable our lawyers to do a quicker and full scope research.

Can you give us a practical example of how you have helped a client to add value to their business?

Our team have assisted a major domestic client to obtain financing from an international creditor through managing its sustainability procedures and increasing its relevant rankings which has not been an easy task for a client active in the sectors of chemical industry and construction.

Are clients looking for stability and strategic direction from their law firms – where do you see the firm in three years’ time?

They certainly do. Especially retainer based clients require us to adopt their businesses, get acquainted with the way they work and expects us to be proactive rather than merely conducting the instructed work. This requires a stable team with dedication which we are proud to offer to our clients. On the other hand, our client portfolio requires legal advice clinched with strategic and business perspective.