About

What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years?

KoçSistem and Boston Consulting Group partnership and establishment of “KoçDigital Çözümler A.Ş.” a 100% subsidiary of KoçSistem which provides advanced analytics and Internet of Things (IoT) solutions to its customers. The focus of the partnership is based on “international know-how transfer”. Being one of the key contributors to this outstanding partnership showed me that Turkey has remarkable potential in this area.

Middle East Smart Cities Project: I provided on-site legal support in a country where legal perspectives and business dynamics are quite different. The project made a significant contribution to my professional development. I worked on the project not only as legal counsel but also as project manager. Being a part of the first smart city project in a new country was a very rewarding experience.

What will be the main focus for the company in the next 12 months and how do you intend to assist with this?

KoçSistem is playing a leading role in the digital transformation of companies. As KoçSistem, we will continue to offer a wide range of products and services in areas such as Internet of Things, Big Data & Analytics, Security, Corporate Cloud, Corporate Mobility, Business Solutions, Digital Workforce and Robotic Process Automation. We will provide preventative legal support, including legal risk mitigation and creation of proper legal conceptual design, in accordance with the new business structure for both contractual and operational phases of these focus areas. We will conduct targeted market research to find appropriate legal solutions for reducing the cost and risk of expanding into a new market.

How do you suggest in-house lawyers build strong relationships with business partners?

Efficient legal solutions come with “business empathy”. Understanding business units’ needs is the key to the most efficient legal interactions. If your business partners think that you walk the same path and – most importantly – that you do not hinder their core business objectives they will more readily access your services. You should make them feel that you are not an obstacle to them achieving company goals. My approach is always to focus on “how to do it” by both understanding their needs while protecting the company. During a business decision, your business partners begin to see the legal department as indispensable. My advice would be “Don’t be afraid of being involved in the business”.

What “legal tech” products do you currently utilise, and do you foresee implementing more of these in the near future?

If you are working in a tech company, software-based workflows are a part of your professional life from the beginning of your first day. We use many systems to conduct daily operations, including software-based systems for both contract management and data privacy. Both software systems were developed by our software team. Considering the turnover of the company and the contractual workload, and that every transaction is conducted with a contractual process, automation of the contract life-cycle is a ‘must have’ technology for a legal department.

Since automation, we have seen a sharp increase in internal customer satisfaction. This contract management system is also used as a KPI for legal department members. We have recently implemented a contract management system with customer relationship and order management systems to follow sales and operation processes through the full life-cycle. As part of the scope of a compliance project regarding data privacy, we can track the company’s data inventory and comply with local DP requirements

Have any new laws, regulations or judicial decisions greatly impacted your company’s business or your legal practice?

The Amendment to Decree No. 32 on the Protection of the Value of the Turkish Currency has affected all companies in Turkey. As we are a system integrator, and given the volume of our transactions in foreign currency, we conducted a due diligence process to analyse the business and cost risk implications of the Amendment. We identified which parts of the business were to be affected and found efficient solutions for sustainability of compliance and business strategy.

As a technology company operating 3 data centers in Turkey and serving multinational corporate customers, compliance with the data privacy requirements of both Data Protection Law No. 6698 and GDPR has the highest priority for both our internal processes and for meeting our customers’ expectations.

Providing the impetus for the development of a data privacy product in the company was a big deal for our department. Our software team developed a data privacy product incorporating our feedback. We are now able to sell our product to the customers for their own compliance projects.

What do you feel are the most effective techniques for getting the most out of external counsel, in terms of how to instruct them?

Alignment between internal and external counsel is crucial. You should explain to them company goals and business strategy to maximize benefits from external support by ‘speaking the same language’.

I believe that using reporting tools is another effective bridge-building technique when working with external counsel. A common database will enable in-house counsel to intervene at the right time. In the case of litigation matters, timing of reporting may provide the chance to optimise strategy.

FOCUS ON: Being part of the business

Eagerness to be part of the business has run through my professional life. Contrary to common belief, law and business are not completely different worlds. I always believe that business decisions have legal consequences, as legal decisions have business consequences. There is always a strong bond between them.

As a legal counsel, analysing a problem from only a legal perspective or isolating yourself from the business may produce an undesirable result contrary to business strategy. Your legal opinion will be composed in only the legal frame unless business dynamics are considered. It is very easy to say “No”, “Too risky”, or “It’s a business decision not a legal decision”, but the crucial point is not to kill business. An in-house lawyer should keep in a corner of her/his mind the old saying “no risk, no gain”. What is expected from you is to support the business. You otherwise risk being considered the bogeyman of the company.

NOMINATOR QUOTES

“I have been working with Deniz Sisa since 2010. I must say that her dedication and negotiation skills are extremely outstanding. She is an extraordinary lawyer with business acumen. She has a very good understanding about a business line’s needs and has a natural talent to find win-win solutions. I can say that when you go to her with a deadlock situation, it is not possible to come back without a proper solution.”

“KoçSistem is [the] leading information technology company of Koç Holding, presenting its solutions for over 70 years. Deniz Sisa has successfully served as chief legal officer since 2007. Sisa and her team provide legal support as shared services for KoçSistem and its affiliates KoçSistem Azerbaijan, KoçDigital and Koç Bilgi ve Savunma. It is very easy to work with her because of her deep knowledge about the company’s business. She always has a strategy and knows what to do for the next step. I must say that she has a wide experience on public procurement law indeed. If the company has an issue with public procurement law, she will be there with tailor-made solutions. Highly recommended.”