Interview with: Zihni Bilgehan, Senior Partner

1) What do you see as the main points that differentiate Ersoy Bilgehan from your competitors?

The legal sector in Turkiye has grown considerably in the last 5 years, especially in terms of the number of law firms set up by international firms, former partners of other firms or even newcomers that dive into the industry from the deep end. I am sure there are supporters of each, however, one aspect that is relevant to our firm is the emphasis our clients put on experience, consistency and reliability more than ever. We believe what sets Ersoy Bilgehan apart from our competitors is the diversity of experience covering a number of practice areas, experience in what it takes to expand into new practice areas and the consistency and reliability in which that experience is delivered. We have put in place measures to ensure our team swiftly adapts to the fast changing technological developments such as AI and other expectation of clients and industry, such as ESG.

As a firm, we are strong believers that staying put is the same as going backwards. With this in mind, we curate our service to our clients’ needs, which combine our years of experience with the dynamism and appetite of a growing law firm. We recognize that commercial considerations play a big role in important decisions clients take. Unlike some of our competitors, we are strong believers in balancing legal considerations with commercial realities and are frequently praised by our clients about our approach.

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

We anticipate seeing the most growth in renewable energy, real estate, compliance, banking & finance, AI and ESG areas. Most have always been strong practices in Turkiye and in our firm. The drivers behind the growth we have seen in most of these areas so far, and will continue to see, can be attributed to the geopolitical position of the country and the quality of service that is provided in these sectors. As with the rest of the world Turkiye experiencing further integration and a need for collaboration as businesses get bigger, become international and look for opportunities in other countries. The increasing reliance on international trade of goods, financial transactions and good economic management requires Turkiye to adapt to the advanced level of global economic system as it has been doing. This adaptation and force can be seen behind such industries that Ersoy Bilgehan also focuses its energy on.

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

Our firm has recently undergone an internal restructuring aimed at substantially increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of the advice given to clients. We have always been strong believers of operating fast and steadily. In line with this, we are investing more in strengthening the senior team and recently transferred two new senior associates to our corporate and finance teams. Many other firms fail to strike a good balance between junior and senior or partner level participation in work they do. A frequent complaint is that most complex work is carried out by juniors with limited partner supervision or that basic work is handled by partners at very high charge out rates. Partners of a law firm are crucial, but a considerable portion of the work is performed by the senior and junior associates under the leadership of their partners. At Ersoy Bilgehan, we make it our mission to invest in our senior associates and junior associates, encouraging them to think like partners and strive to provide services to the same degree.

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

In this day and age, all must agree that technology changes everything it touches, and the legal profession is not immune from this. With this understanding and the support of our young and dynamic team, we also turned our heads towards an AI integrated system. The trends of digitisation and automation have been reshaping how legal firms service their clients, allowing them to reduce their costs while at the same provide higher-quality services with better fact-finding, project management, and visualization. We fully welcome digitisation and automation in our work processes where appropriate.

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

In the last five years, more and more of our clients have sought sophisticated compliance advice and this organically lead us towards creating and implementing a “early warning system”. While usually a client approaches their law firm with compliance questions and issues and prompt assistance, we offer a reversed approach to our clients, where we monitor any new developments and compliance-related matters pertaining to their industry and make them aware of any relevant issues before they discover them and feel the need to approach us. In this sense, we almost work as their in-house compliance team and give our clients the confidence that if they need to know something, they will hear it from us first.

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

Clients, whether giants, start-ups or family businesses, should look for stability and strategic direction from their law firms. Stability and strategic direction that are internalised by a law firm will inevitably reflect these to their work with their clients. We believe these are easily reflected in Ersoy Bilgehan’s structure where two of our partners are included in the Legal500 hall of fame and the other two are flagged as next generation partners to be watched. We see our firm on the same trajectory as now, growing fast and steady with our roots in our experience and confidence and an outlook on the future and development.