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Want the inside track on what makes the world’s elite law firms successful?

fivehundred, the magazine from The Legal 500, combines the knowledge of our experienced editors and researchers with expert contributors to give you an insight into the global themes affecting the legal profession.

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Interview with… Lawrence S. Elbaum and Patrick Gadson, Co-Chairs of Vinson & Elkins’ Shareholder Activism Practice

We sat down with Lawrence Elbaum and Patrick Gadson, based in New York City, to see what has made their Shareholder Activism Practice team achieve such success

Inside this Edition

Interview with… Şeyma İnal, Inal Law Office

What was it that made you want to become a lawyer? Being born into a family with a legal background, one of the biggest reasons that inspired me to become a lawyer is my grandfather who was one of the first public prosecutors of the Turkish Republic following its establishment. Then, he became one of …

Interview with… Didem Kalaycıoğlu Birol, founding partner, DKB Legal

Tell us about your education journey starting at Istanbul University in 1998 and why you picked law. My desire to become a lawyer started at a very young age. My grandfather was my inspiration to go to law school. He graduated from Ankara University Law School and served as a military judge for many years, …

Interview with… Pelin Baysal, Founding partner, Baysal & Demir

Tell us about your career choice and journey. What inspired you to become a lawyer?  When I was a child, I wanted to be a flight stewardess. My dream was to see other countries and continents. Then at some point, I watched a movie where I first saw a young female litigator at the courthouse. …

Interview with Gamze Telli, Partner at Aksan Law Firm

Tell us about your journey into law and what made you choose it as your profession. As opposed to the number of people who embark on their journey of law mostly through relatives; I’m the first in my family to discover these territories. My path started when I was remarkably young and realized that my …

Interview with Nazan DİRİ BAL, managing partner

Tell us about your career choice and journey. What inspired you to become a lawyer? We have the cliché of a family full of lawyers. But inspiration is a strong word that includes desire, ambition and a deep force from inside. Although that was my only response as a kid when I was asked what …

Focus on… Galicia

Founded in 1994, Galicia has established itself as a frontrunner in the Mexican market while prioritizing the development of a truly people-centered and collaborative culture. Renowned firm for its profound and specialized knowledge in six strategic sectors: financial, energy & infrastructure, private equity, regulated industries, real estate & hospitality and life sciences. Galicia’s main differentiator …

Interview with Diego Villarroel, Partner, Ferrere, Bolivia

What are the biggest challenges facing Bolivia’s legal market in the next 12 months? Recently, the legal market in Bolivia has seen increasing competition, due to mergers of local firms, as well as entry of foreign and regional firms to the Bolivian market and their mergers with local firms. Thus, the challenge we face is …

Interview with… Joel Luís Thomaz Bastos, partner, Thomaz Bastos, Waisberg, Kurzweil Sociedade de Advogados

What are the biggest challenges facing the Brazilian legal market in the next 12 months? I believe there are number of challenges the market will be facing, especially given the upcoming elections and world events (the war in Ukraine, the lingering effects of the pandemic etc.). Chief among these difficulties I think will be inflation …

Interview with… Manuel Galicia, M&A, B&F and ESG practices partner Chairperson of the Executive Committee

Do you consider sustainability credentials important to your firm’s business? ESG is no longer an option, but a must for our firm. Our ESG practice definitively has granted our firm an additional advantage in the market by advising our clients with ESG related needs. Have ESG considerations prompted you to re-evaluate the service you provide? …

Interview with… Lale Defne Mete, CETINKAYA Law Firm, Partner

Tell us about your career choice and journey. Since my early years in high school, I had a passion for social justice issues, the art of debate, and law as a discipline. How much I enjoyed my university education in law further affirmed the veracity of this direction. I found private practice appealing in particular …

Interview with… Roberto Pereira, Benites, Vargas & Ugaz Abogados

What are the biggest challenges facing Peru’s legal market in the next 12 months? I believe that the ability to adapt and respond quickly and efficiently to the demands of changing services, which are increasingly characterized by their multidisciplinarity, the incorporation of new technologies and contexts of institutional instability due to the impact of internal …

Focus on… Ferrere Uruguay

FERRERE is the largest law firm in Uruguay and the only multi-jurisdictional, purely South American, law firm in the region. It has +150 attorneys throughout Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay. Specialization is a differentiating feature: The firm has invested for years in building practice groups dedicated to the areas of both law and industry. Along with …

Interview with… Başak Gürbüz Lead Regional Counsel at Visa

Tell us about your career choice and journey. What made you decide to get into law? I was used to the legal profession because of my grandfather and dad. My grandfather was one of the head judges in the Court of Appeals and my father also used to be a judge and then the legal …

Interview with… Bernardo Tobar, managing partner, Tobar ZVS

What are the biggest challenges facing Ecuador’s legal market in the next 12 months? The legal environment constantly grows more complex, as a result of the ever-increasing regulatory pressures and the incessant enactment of laws that heighten both the level of reporting and compliance obligations on any business and the complexity of any transactional work; …

Interview with… Nestor Loizaga, partner, Ferrere

What are the biggest challenges facing Paraguay’s legal market in the next 12 months? The biggest challenges that the legal market will face in the next months are potential opportunities of investment in the infrastructure area with participation of foreign investors. Talent retention also will be a challenge. Do you consider sustainability credentials important to …