Founder & Managing Partner Piraye Erdem explains how Erdem & Erdem is combining stability, strategic foresight, and innovation to meet clients’ evolving legal and commercial needs.

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

 What differentiates us from our competitors is our combination of sustainability, innovation and institutional dept of our legal capabilities. For 40 years, we have built Erdem & Erdem into an international law firm that delivers sophisticated legal services to both local and global clients. We have still remained closely aligned with the commercial realities of the markets in which our clients operate. Our longevity reflects not only experience, but also our ability to continuously adapt to evolving legal, regulatory, and business environments. We do this by developing innovative strategies that address current challenges while maintaining the highest professional standards.

One of our key strengths is that we operate as a truly full-service law firm. We have structured our practice so that our specialized teams work in close coordination. This allows us to deliver comprehensive legal solutions across all aspects of a client’s needs. For example, in a complex M&A transaction, our Corporate & M&A team leads the process, while our Competition & Compliance team handles merger control and regulatory approvals. At the same time, our Banking & Finance team structures and negotiates financing, and our Tax team advises on fiscal aspects. This integrated approach allows us to address matters holistically and ensures that our clients receive consistent, commercially grounded advice rather than fragmented legal opinion.

Our dispute resolution practice is another key point of differentiation. We are not solely a transactional firm, nor are we limited to a single stage of contentious matters. We represent our clients across arbitration, litigation, bankruptcy, and enforcement proceedings from early dispute prevention through to final award and execution. In my view, this is essential. It allows us to advise strategically, with a clear understanding of how legal risks evolve in practice. Our litigation and arbitration teams consist of highly qualified lawyers who combine strong technical expertise with practical advocacy. This is increasingly rare in a market where contentious and corporate capabilities are often separated.

We also place considerable importance on academic rigor, continuous legal development, and the cultivation of future legal professionals. At Erdem & Erdem, we believe that effective legal practice requires more than technical knowledge; it requires constant engagement with legal scholarship, legislative developments, and sectoral change. In this regard, we are committed to strengthening our academic foundation and supporting the development of well-rounded lawyers through structured and ongoing initiatives. We regularly organize internal training programmes under the Erdem & Erdem Academy, address current and significant legal topics in our monthly publication Exlibris, and keep our clients informed of key legal developments. In addition, we actively contribute to the legal community by organizing events and webinars, both independently and in collaboration with various institutions, with a view to sharing knowledge and fostering informed discussion on contemporary legal issues.

Through these combined efforts, we foster a culture of continuous learning and excellence, enabling us to train highly qualified, forward-thinking lawyers.

Another important distinction is our approach to client service. We prioritize responsiveness, timeliness, and transparency. Our partners remain directly involved at every stage of a matter, including senior leadership where necessary. We believe clients should have access to experienced, strategically minded counsel. We structure our practice to ensure that level of involvement and oversight.

Finally, our sector-focused expertise in regulated industries further distinguishes us. These include banking, finance, energy, renewables, telecommunications, transportation, and capital markets. We have established dedicated sector working groups in each of these areas. This allows us to closely monitor regulatory developments, market dynamics, and emerging legal issues on an ongoing basis. These sectors require strong legal expertise and a sophisticated understanding of regulatory frameworks and commercial infrastructure. Our experience, supported by the continuous work of our sector groups, enables us to deliver advice that is both technically robust and commercially relevant.

I believe what sets us apart is our ability to combine institutional experience, innovative thinking, and multidisciplinary legal capability with strong dispute resolution expertise and sector-specific insight. We consistently maintain a practical, international, and client-focused approach in everything we do.

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

Over the next 12 months, we expect growth across several practice areas. This will largely be driven by regulatory change, economic pressures, cross-border investment activity, and the increasing need for sector-specific legal expertise. First, we anticipate continued growth in our Tax practice, both in advisory and contentious work. Tax considerations are now central to almost every major commercial transaction, particularly in corporate restructurings, M&A, debt restructuring, and complex financing. We are seeing rising demand for integrated tax and legal solutions, especially where clients require strategic guidance on mergers, demergers, spin-offs, capital restructuring, asset transfers, and customs matters. In a complex fiscal and regulatory environment, clients are looking not only for efficient tax structuring, but also for strong representation in tax and customs disputes, investigations, and litigation.

We also expect continued growth in Competition, Compliance, and Data Protection. Regulatory scrutiny is increasing both domestically and internationally, especially in areas such as antitrust enforcement, personal data protection, anti-corruption, sanctions, and international trade controls. As multinational regulatory standards continue to shape local business practices, companies need more comprehensive and defensible compliance frameworks. We therefore expect strong demand for compliance audits, internal investigations, governance restructuring, and tailored compliance programs, particularly for clients operating in regulated or cross-border environments.

Our Technology, Media & Telecommunications and regulatory practices are also well positioned for growth. Digital transformation, cybersecurity risks, and the rapidly evolving regulatory landscape around artificial intelligence, particularly at the European Union level, are reshaping legal risk for businesses. At the same time, AI-related legal issues and developing data governance frameworks are becoming more prominent. Having integrated AI-driven systems into our own processes, we have first-hand operational insight into the legal and regulatory aspects of AI deployment. This strengthens our ability to advise clients with authority in this area. As businesses adapt to technological disruption and increasing regulatory scrutiny, these practices are becoming more strategic.

In addition, we expect Litigation and Arbitration to remain highly active. Economic volatility, inflationary pressures, and liquidity constraints are increasing the likelihood of contractual disputes, enforcement actions, insolvency-related matters, and cross-border creditor claims. In this environment, dispute resolution becomes a critical function. This is particularly the case for clients who require representation across litigation, enforcement, bankruptcy, and international arbitration.

We also believe Corporate & M&A will remain a strong growth area. Türkiye continues to offer significant opportunities for strategic investors, particularly where currency fluctuations and valuation gaps create attractive entry points for foreign capital. We expect continued activity in acquisitions, restructurings, joint ventures, and sector-specific investments in energy, infrastructure, technology, and other regulated industries. In this context, our multidisciplinary structure is particularly valuable, as transactions increasingly require integrated support across M&A, finance, competition, tax, and regulatory practices.

In the context of corporate investments, particularly in banking and finance matters, companies often require tailored financing solutions. We provide comprehensive legal support throughout the financing process, including structuring and negotiating transactions, as well as establishing and perfecting collateral and security packages.

We also deliver all related legal services necessary to facilitate the transaction, ensuring an efficient process from start to completion.

Overall, I believe the main drivers of growth will be increasing regulatory complexity, economic restructuring, foreign investment activity, technological transformation, and the need for integrated compliance and dispute management. As a full-service firm with strong capabilities across transactional, regulatory, and contentious practices, we are well positioned to respond to these developments in a comprehensive manner.

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

Over the past year, we have taken concrete steps to integrate innovation into our legal service delivery, with a clear focus on improving efficiency, consistency, and responsiveness. As part of our digital transformation, we implemented a knowledge and business automation platform. This system manages key workflows such as contract management, litigation follow-up, internal documentation, and cost tracking. It allows for faster turnaround, better task visibility, and more consistent output across client matters.

We have also established an internal Artificial Intelligence Working Group, composed of lawyers and business professionals with a focus on legal technology. The group has assessed various AI tools for document review, legal research, and contract drafting, with the aim of integrating suitable solutions into our core processes. As a result, we have implemented an AI-powered legal platform to enhance efficiency, improve precision, and strengthen the quality of our research, drafting, and workflows. These initiatives are intended to reduce manual workload and to improve access to structured legal information.

In parallel, we have begun planning a Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) system. This is intended to enable tailored, context-based analysis drawing on our 40-year legal archive. We are currently in the vendor evaluation phase and have held initial discussions with several specialized providers. While we have not yet launched a pilot, our objective is to establish a long-term foundation for more advanced knowledge retrieval and internal legal research.

To complement these efforts, we have developed a mailing automation tool that monitors and summarizes legal updates from a wide range of regulatory authorities, including the Official Gazette, the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency, the Personal Data Protection Authority, the Energy Market Regulatory Authority, and the Capital Markets Board. This enables our clients to stay informed in a timely manner, particularly in fast-evolving sectors.

These initiatives reflect our focus on using technology not only to streamline internal processes, but also to enhance the quality, efficiency, and responsiveness of the legal services we provide.

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

Technology has improved the way we engage with our clients, enabling faster, more seamless, and more flexible communication. Video and audio conferencing have become an integral part of our daily practice for both international and domestic clients. These tools allow us to address time-sensitive matters more efficiently while making better use of our clients’ time. As a result, we are able to provide responsive and well-coordinated legal support across jurisdictions and sectors, without compromising the quality of our service.

It has also changed the way we deliver legal information and maintain client engagement. Through client alerts, digital newsletters, and online publications, we keep our clients informed of key legal and regulatory developments in a timely manner. Our website and digital content platforms enable us to provide continuous, proactive guidance. This is particularly valuable in rapidly evolving regulatory environments.

We see digital transformation and emerging AI technologies as essential to the future of legal practice. We closely monitor developments in legal technology and artificial intelligence to assess how they can enhance legal research, knowledge management, and service delivery. Importantly, we view AI as a supportive tool that complements the expertise and judgment of our lawyers. We have integrated AI-driven solutions into our core workflows, including legal research, document review, and drafting. This has significantly improved the speed and efficiency of our work. At the same time, we adopt a carefully controlled approach to AI use. All AI-assisted outputs are subject to thorough review and validation by our legal professionals. This measured and disciplined approach ensures that the quality, accuracy, and reliability of our legal services are consistently maintained.

By combining human oversight with technological capability, we are able to deliver faster, more efficient, and more precise legal solutions. At the same time, we preserve the depth of analysis and level of sophistication that complex legal matters require.

Our objective is to continue integrating innovation in a measured and thoughtful way. We see technology as a force multiplier that strengthens our responsiveness and analytical capabilities, without compromising the professional standards on which our practice is built.

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

In a recent M&A transaction in which we represented the buyer, our Corporate & M&A team led the process from the outset, conducting comprehensive legal due diligence and subsequently reviewing and negotiating the share purchase agreement and all related transaction documents through to signing and closing.

Following the execution of the transaction documents, our Competition & Compliance team prepared and filed the merger control notification before the Turkish Competition Authority and managed the review process through to clearance. Concurrently, our Banking & Finance team worked closely with the M&A team to structure and negotiate the financing arrangements for the acquisition, coordinating with multiple lenders to ensure that the funding was aligned with the transaction timeline and closing conditions.

What made this engagement particularly valuable for the client was not only the successful completion of the transaction within a compressed timeline, but also the strategic guidance we provided throughout the process. By identifying regulatory risks early, structuring the deal to achieve fiscal efficiency, and coordinating all workstreams under a single integrated team, we were able to reduce the client's overall transaction costs, avoid potential regulatory obstacles, and ensure a seamless transition of operations. The client subsequently engaged us for post-acquisition regulatory compliance, ongoing corporate governance advisory, and additional investment opportunities in the Turkish market.

This matter exemplifies our belief that adding value goes beyond providing technically sound legal advice. It requires understanding the client's commercial objectives, anticipating challenges before they materialize, and delivering coordinated, multidisciplinary solutions that contribute directly to the client's strategic and financial goals.

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

I believe clients are increasingly looking to their law firms not only for technical legal advice, but also for stability, continuity, and strategic direction. In today’s economic and regulatory environment, clients need advisers who can provide consistent guidance through uncertainty and help anticipate legal and commercial risks. At Erdem & Erdem, we have always linked sustainability with stability. With four decades of continuous operation, we understand that institutional strength is built through long-term commitment, ongoing investment in our people and capabilities, and a willingness to evolve in line with the changing needs of both local and international clients.

We approach the future of our firm in a strategic and collective manner. Our partners regularly assess our position, capabilities, and market direction to ensure sustainable growth. Despite regional economic volatility, we see significant opportunity in the rising demand for sophisticated, knowledge-driven legal services. The market is placing greater emphasis on quality, substantive expertise, and commercially sound advice. We believe our strong academic foundation, multidisciplinary structure, and practical business insight position us well in this environment.

Over the next three years, I expect our firm to continue expanding both in capacity and in strategic depth. We aim to strengthen our teams, further develop our sector-focused and cross-border capabilities, and continue integrating innovation into our practice. Equally important, we anticipate playing a greater role in our clients’ strategic planning. Clients increasingly rely on us not only to resolve disputes or execute transactions, but also to contribute to broader decision-making by combining legal insight with commercial awareness. This trusted advisory role will remain central to our growth. In three years’ time, I see Erdem & Erdem as a more advanced, internationally oriented, and strategically integrated institution. We are firmly grounded in legal excellence and continue to evolve alongside the business world.