ARI Attorneys at Law

What do you see as the main points that differentiate Arı Attorneys at Law from your competitors? Arı Attorneys at Law is a firm consisted of lawyers who take care of the interests and values of their clients within the framework of their ethical understanding and prioritize the quality of their work. The presence of lawyers with knowledge and interest about different areas of law within our firm provides a great advantage in order to meet the demands of clients from every sector and to have a versatile approach. As a result, custom fit consultancy services specific to each client’s sector and business plan can be provided. In addition, the experience I gained for 11 years at the Turkish Competition Authority (TCA) as a competition expert is of great importance in terms of mastering the internal processes, mindset and approaches of the TCA. We believe that it is in the clients’ best interests to take advice from someone who has been on the opposite side of the proceedings. Thanks to these perspectives, the situation analysis, and the drawing of the route to be followed during an investigation, dispute and all kinds of consultancy services are carried out in a much successful way. The fact that our firm is composed of young, enthusiastic, and open-minded lawyers with high commitment is also one of the factors that enable us to progress. 75% of our team consists of women which is an obvious indicator of the great importance we attach to diversity within the firm. As ARI Attorneys at Law, we follow up-to-date domestic and global developments in competition law that may affect clients and regularly provide the necessary information for each client regarding their business activities while conducting online and on-site TCA style inspection simulations in regards to competition law for our clients. Based on the inspections, trainings are organized for the clients in line with their specific needs. In this way, it is ensured that the clients are adapted to the developing and changing conditions. We are also able to provide legal services to our international clients in Turkish, English, French and German. Which practices do you see growing in the next 12 months? What are the drivers behind that? There is a proposal to amend the Competition Law, in regards to the DMA which will introduce the concept of gate-keeper for companies that provide online services which would increase their obligations and risks under the Competition Law. Additionally, with the accelerated development and usage of e-commerce during the pandemic, prices of products have become much more observable. Also, various applications and websites that include the comparative prices of e-commerce companies reveals the difference in the sales price of the same product which increases the pressure from resellers to the producers to interfere in prices that are lower than theirs, which in some cases can cause a breach of determination of the resale price. The fact that the Competition Board has given much importance to the determination of the resale price in its recent decisions reveals that inspections and investigations in this area may increase in the future and can be directed to online sales. Another subject that is frequently included in decisions is violations in the field of human resources. With the increased focus of TCA on determination of resale price and in the field of human resources, there has been an increase in complaints from different sectors with the accusations of the same type of violations. Therefore, inspections regarding these violations are beginning to spread to every sector. As a result, it is predicted that investigations and decisions regarding determination of the resale price and violations in the field of human resources will increase in the next 12 months. What's the main change you've made in the firm that will benefit clients? By developing compliance programs for our clients, we enable them to carry out their business in accordance with the rules of Competition Law. As the first step we carry out mock on-site inspections within our clients’ organizations. As a result of introducing a change in the method of our inspection simulations by adding three different remote access options, we are able to act much faster and more comprehensively for our clients. In addition, I organize trainings for client companies on issues that need to be arranged and fixed after the inspections. Thanks to these trainings, we can minimize the risks of potential violations. Now that I have started to give trainings online, we have started to reach employees working in different parts of the country simultaneously at once and without the physical limitations of a conference room we have increased the number of employees that can attend and actively participate in the online trainings. Is technology changing the way you interact with your clients, and the services you can provide them? Technology greatly supports us in the quality and speed of the services we provide to the clients. For a while, we have been implementing mock on-site inspections not only by going to the workplaces, but also by remote access. While doing this, we proceed by determining the most suitable one for our clients’ needs, between 3 different applications and methods of remote access. In this way, a much more comprehensive, rapid and targeted examination can be made. Additionally, by providing remote access inspection simulations we reduce the cost for our clients by eliminating the need for their employees to travel to clients’ headquarters in order to participate in the inspection simulations. Implementing more technology to our services is not only beneficial for our clients but also for the environment. By reducing the travel required for our inspection simulations we are reducing our carbon footprint. Can you give us a practical example of how you have helped a client to add value to their business? Before the increase in investigations in regards to violations in the field of human resources, we have offered our clients to limit the risks they poses through mock on-site inspections, trainings and manuals. Since those clients are among the biggest and most diverse industrial conglomerates in Turkey, incorporating a large number of companies which all have their own human resources departments that were acting in an intertwined manner. We had to conduct thorough mock on-site inspections to determine the risks; hold trainings with human resources personnel that act in different industrial areas with different customs and create sector specific manuals that they can use while conducting their daily duties within their organizations. 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 clients are looking for stability from their law firms, however in this case stability does not mean stagnation. The stability clients seek lies with the quality and reliability of the legal services. Clients prefer a stable relationship and quality from their law firms. As Arı Attorneys at Law, we are proud to say that most of our lawyers have been with us since the beginning of their careers. This enables them to anticipate the needs of our clients and provide tailor made legal services. As Arı Attorneys at Law, we have been working for finding new ways to expand our horizon and increase the quality and the quantity of our services. While we believe that we set the highest bar for high quality legal services in the competition law area, there are always opportunities to improve. With recent developments we made, in three years we see ourselves as indisputably the best law firm in Turkey that focuses on competition law.