Sengüler & Sengüler > Istanbul, Turkey > Firm Profile

Gul Senguler, Founding Partner, Senguler & Senguler

What do you see as the main points that differentiate Senguler & Senguler from your competitors

There are many good firms in Turkey and naturally each one of us would like to believe we have unique features to make us stand out. In my view one area in which Senguler & Senguler has shown some special talent is in relation to our ability to network and cooperate at both local and international levels.

Having both Turkish and western lawyers on our team allows us to help foreign clients feel comfortable in the local environment. In addition, as a Relationship Firm for Eversheds Sutherland and being part of ALFA International legal network we have multi-jurisdictional resources at our fingertips.

Finally, we consider that an important part of service includes fully understanding our clients’ respective industries. This ensures we are not giving advice in a vacuum, but rather we are in a position both to resolve real issues immediately and able to help clients reduce legal risks by providing preemptive advice.

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

It is well known that the current business in Turkey and the region is challenging. This is evidenced by the drop in the number of M&A’s and finance projects over the last few years.

In the next 12 months we do not expect to see a significant improvement in the investment climate. This will mean that the pattern of work will probably remain much the same with the exception that there will be an increase in the number of disputes, both through the courts and by arbitration.

In arbitration in particular we have noticed a rise in cases and this will probably be a continuing area of growth. There also appears to be an increase in the growth of third party funding for large arbitrations and so we shall anticipate this may also lead to more cases.

Finally with the increase in restructuring and the re-emergence of unionisation we expect to see more labour law cases. This has been a significant area of growth for the firm in recent years as we have pioneered bulk employment case management on behalf of multinational employers with high workforce turnover.

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

We put a lot of importance in developing our teams in specific legal disciplines. Many of our clients are multinational industrials which have large production facilities or large work forces located around Turkey. We seek to provide support on a day to day basis, both in HR corporate and compliance. To benefit these clients we have divided up our legal teams along these lines and our clients contact teams via a dedicated email to enable fast handling of enquiries.

Additionally when choosing and training team members we have sought to ensure that they are able to adapt to work in teams and have the skills and capacity to resolve issues quickly and in line with client expectations. There should always be at least two lawyers involved in each matter to ensure that there will never be an issue with lack of follow up.

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

One way we have used technology recently is to have both email and whatsapp groups, so that clients can make direct contact with the team using one address or group. In addition we have used data from our review of case management to report back to clients on process failure and then use the data to give training, produce basis operating practices/check lists for action in relation to HR and other issues. Finally we work with a number of clients via their reporting and billing systems to provide updates reports and progress on work done.

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

In the past two years we have been acting for a multinational firm which employs between 3-4,000 employees to provide security services all over Turkey. There is a high turnover of employees due to the project based nature of many of the services. In the past there was a very high number of cases and no audit or reporting of these cases. We took over the cases and as each case called audited the cases for winability and procedural correctness. Where we found procedural failures we were able to train managers to follow correct procedures and reduce risk of cases being raised or lost. We also developed strategies to ensure there was evidence to defeat speculative claims for reinstatement. The combined savings for the client in reducing case numbers and stopping claims has been very significant.

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

It is the case that clients are keen to have a sense of stability in their support but we also note that there is a role for firms to help clients to adapt to improve practices and procedures. We are seeking to develop in this area and envisage increased cooperation with clients going forward.

As a firm we anticipate steady growth rather than meteoric expansion. The market is not really ripe for expansion and clients would prefer to know that the teams they know and trust can be relied upon going forward.

In three years time we would expect a level of growth but it will also depend upon the business environment in Turkey and the region. We are hopeful that by continuing to serve our clients well and effectively we can expand by organic growth to meet of new clients acquired on the back of existing client recommendation.

Nihan Yiğit, Partner

What do you see as the main points that differentiate Şengüler & Partners from your competitors?

We believe in importance of solving the problems quickly by keeping in mind the principle of “business needs to run”. Therefore, we are not only legal advisors, we are also business partners of our clients. Given that, we aim to bring original and creative approaches to complex situations, which we believe make us unique and stand out from the crowd.

We know the importance of cross-jurisdiction subjects and that’s why we have lawyers qualified in both common law and civil law jurisdictions, giving us the ability to provide insight from different perspectives, especially for foreign clients. In addition, as a Relationship Firm for Eversheds Sutherland and a member of ALFA International legal network, we have further multi-jurisdictional resources at our fingertips.

Efficiency, cost effectiveness, high quality communication, responsiveness and genuine ownership of the client relationship by the partners are our key values to differentiate Senguler & Partner from our competitors.

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

Within the next 12 months and thereafter, we believe Environmental Social Governance (ESG) will become a key concern in Turkey, just like rest of the World. We expect the clients to establish sustainable business structures to increase financial value of their companies and also attract investments. As part of our vision for ESG related issues, we expect that our legal services on environmental law, supply chain management, managing the risk of climate change, transition to clean energy, human rights and diversity policies, health and safety, diversity in boards and leading positions would increase.

Emerging from the effects of Covid and the war in Ukraine, the World is facing inflation, rapid innovation, market volatility and supply issues which are driving companies to take strategic investment decisions. As a result, we expect an increase in M&A transactions particularly in tech and fintech sectors. ESG is also likely to have crucial role for the dealmakers to value the target in M&A transactions.

In late December 2022, Türkiye’s Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources have published the “Türkiye National Energy Plan” which outlines the energy sector related targets of the country. In line with Türkiye’s 2053 Net Zero Emissions target, the country plans to invest heavily in renewables and electricity its industrial sectors, meaning a higher electricity demand will need to be met. Notably, Turkey is planning to build close to 20 GW new capacity in wind power plants and more than 40 GW new capacity in solar power plants, as early as 2035. Therefore, we are of the view that local and international investors, along with financial institutions are getting prepared for new investment opportunities in energy market, which will help build a greener economy and reach its long-term targets. In the last two years, Türkiye’s energy market participants have also shown a great interest in IPO’s and bond issuances, and we expect the trend to continue in an effort to find feasible financing solutions.

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

We seek to hire well qualified and experienced lawyers and train them well, while creating a happy, supportive and collaborative atmosphere in the workplace. We also implemented a hybrid working system, which we believe would help the team to work in a more flexible and creative atmosphere as a result, the clients are getting more creative services with a more positive and friendly approach.

Also, given the instability of economic conditions within the last couple of years, we generally use a fixed fee or capped fee model rather than hourly rates to provide our clients a more foreseeable cost.

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

We invest in various technology solutions for security of data and efficiency of our interaction with our clients. Within our firm, we try to strengthen the research ability by using technologic software which enable more efficient and faster research. We also use shared data platforms for case management solutions, protecting data retention and we also efficiently use video and teleconference systems.

We use specific online platform to receive instructions and have approvals on our fees for some of our multinational clients, which helps saving time and establishing robust fee system among the subsidiaries of the same entity by providing transparency.

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

In the past couple of years, we have been acting for a multinational firm which employs around 4,000 employees to provide security services all over Turkey. There is a high turnover of employees due to the project-based nature of the services. In the past, there was a high number of cases and no audit or reporting system in place. We took over the cases and audited the ongoing cases to evaluate the possibility of winning. During this audit, we found significant procedural failures, which would have changed the course of decision, if the work was done in another way. Consequently, we were able to train managers to follow the correct procedures and reduce the risk of cases being raised or lost.

We also established our own lawyer network all over Turkey consisting of highly qualified and reliable lawyers, so that rather than one of our team members travelling for each work, we cooperate with our business partners residing in the relevant city. In that context, we offer cost efficiency to our clients and also benefit from their acquaintance with the authorities and people in their region.

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

We know that consistency, continuity and strategic direction is vital for the clients to solve their legal issues quickly and get on with their business. That being said, most of our clients are long term retainers and multinational law firms, which we believe demonstrates our track record in stability, strategic direction and trust in relationships.

In three years’ time, we aim a steady growth with the people who are open to team work rather than meteoric expansion. We aim to help our junior lawyers, by involving them in the projects and providing on-the-job training from our senior team members and our firm’s partners.

As a firm, we also aim constantly to build our legal knowledge, particularly in newly developing areas and catch the global trends.