About

One of Turkey’s largest corporate groups, Zorlu Holding employs over 26,000 employees across a portfolio of over 60 companies operating in a range of sectors, from textiles to electrical goods. At such a large and diverse company, a well-structured legal team is key to ensuring smooth operations, and nominators were emphatic in their praise for the highly efficient and collaborative approach of the legal staff at Zorlu Holdings. The team is led by legal affairs coordinator and chief legal officer, Burak Ismail Okay, who has worked closely with the business for a number of years and has been a board member at group entity Zorlu Enerji since 2007. Okay’s understanding of the risk appetite and commercial drivers across the group has fed into the legal team’s approach to handling negotiations and delivering strategic advice. In particular, the team has played a big role in successfully negotiating dispute settlements recently and is now involved in some of its most strategically important corporate and commercial work. In 2016 the team was involved in Zorlu Enerji’s agreement with First Solar, a US solar panel company, to supply new panel designs for projects expected to be commissioned in 2017. More significantly, the team is currently involved in negotiations with Israel to secure an energy deal which will supply Turkey with gas from Israel and build two further power stations there.