Professional notice
Turkey
ELIG GÜRKAYNAK ATTORNEYS-AT-LAW is still the first name on most people's lips when it comes to competition advice in Turkey. The team is led by Gönenç Gürkaynak and consists of 45 competition law specialists who devote more than 90% of their time to competition law matters. Gürkaynak has nearly 20 years of competition work under his belt, working at the Brussels, New York and Istanbul offices of White & Case before joining the firm. He is assisted by three partners and one counsel, and uniquely in Turkey, a full-time, in-house competition economist.
With a healthy roster of international clients, ELIG unsurprisingly is involved in some big global mergers. The team advised both oil and gas technology company FMC Technologies and project management company Technip in notifying their US$13 billion merger to Turkey's Competition Authority, and received clearance in August 2016. The firm also represented General Electric in its US$7.4 billion acquisition of Baker Hughes, which the competition authority cleared in February 2017, and Johnson & Johnson in its US$4.3 billion acquisition of Abbott Medical Optics.
The firm represented Booking.com in a high-profile investigation before the competition authority, whose decision recognised that most-favoured-nation clauses could have potential anticompetitive effects on the online hotel booking market. Booking.com committed to amend the provisions of its agreements, but the authority still imposed a fine on the company. ELIG successfully defended the Turkish subsidiary of Media-Saturn, Europe's leading consumer electronics retailer, in the competition authority's investigation into consumer electronic and computer games makers and sellers for anticompetitive practices. The authority found several of the other companies guilty of resale price maintenance.
ELIG Gürkaynak Attorneys-at-Law is an eminent, independent Turkish law firm based in Istanbul. The firm was founded in 2005.
ELIG Gürkaynak is committed to providing its clients with high-quality legal services. We combine a solid knowledge of Turkish law with a business-minded approach to develop legal solutions that meet the ever-changing needs of our clients in their international and domestic operations.
The firm builds and maintains close working relationships with a number of international law firms and collaborates with them to serve mutual clients on a range of transactions.
All members of the ELIG Gürkaynak team are fluent in English and speak a variety of other languages. Many ELIG Gürkaynak team members have obtained their graduate degrees in law schools in the US, the UK, Switzerland, France and Turkey. In addition to membership of the Istanbul Bar, Mr Gönenç Gürkaynak, a founding partner of ELIG Gürkaynak, is also qualified in New York, and is further qualified as a solicitor of the Law Society of England and Wales, currently as a non-practising member.
ELIG Gürkaynak’s key practice areas are corporate law, mergers & acquisitions, competition law, anti-corruption, white collar irregularities and compliance, EC law, Internet law, technology, media & telecommunications law, data protection & privacy law, banking and finance law, litigation & arbitration, energy, oil & gas law, administrative law, real estate law, anti-dumping law, pharma and healthcare regulatory, employment law and intellectual property law.
ELIG Gürkaynak delivers the top competition law practice in Turkey with 45 competition law specialists, out of a total of 90 lawyers at ELIG Gürkaynak. In addition to unparalleled experience in merger control issues, ELIG Gürkaynak has vast experience in defending companies before the Turkish Competition Board in all phases of antitrust investigations, abuse of dominant position cases, leniency handlings, and before courts on issues of private enforcement of competition law, along with appeals of the administrative decisions of the Turkish Competition Authority.
During the past year, ELIG Gürkaynak has been involved in over 85 merger clearances by the Turkish Competition Authority, more than 35 defence project investigations, and about 15 appeals before the administrative courts. ELIG Gürkaynak also provided more than 75 antitrust education seminars to employees of its clients.
ELIG Gürkaynak has a significant practice in Turkey focusing on internal investigations and white-collar criminal matters. Among other things, the practice advises clients in connection with Turkish corporate compliance issues under the relevant OECD Convention, FCPA, the UK Bribery Act and Turkish anti-corruption laws. This includes all matters relating to data privacy, employment law, anti-corruption policies and other related aspects of the Turkish legal regime.
ELIG Gürkaynak represents local and multinational conglomerates in M&A projects as well. The M&A team have vast experience and capability in handling multiple and significant M&A transactions, reorganisations, joint ventures and spin-offs. The firm’s corporate team has a solid practice in providing commercial and corporate law services to corporations, advising foreign clients during their entry to the Turkish market, and daily operations thereafter.
Unlike many local firms in Turkey, ELIG Gürkaynak has a recognised and significant practice in media, internet and new media, and telecommunications law. The practice mainly covers domain name disputes, website agreements, movie distribution agreements, internet copyright and internet trademarks, internet-related litigation, regulatory counselling, notice and takedown or judiciary decision enforcement assistance and localisation of telecom agreements and licenses to be signed with carriers.
ELIG Gürkaynak also has a solid track record and knowledge of litigation before Turkish civil and administrative courts. ELIG Gürkaynak is well equipped to handle all types of civil legal disputes before the Turkish courts.
Number of Lawyers: 90
Key Contact:
Gönenç Gürkaynak,
Founding Partner
Tel: +90 212 327 1724
[email protected]
For further information, please visit www.elig.com
Firm contact details:
Çitlenbik Sokak No:12,
Yildiz Mahallesi,
Besiktas 34349,
Istanbul / Turkey
Tel: +90 212 327 1724
Fax: +90 212 327 1725