Interview with: Kerim Pelister, Managing Partner

Managing Partner Kerim Pelister provides interesting insights on Turkish legal market.

 

What do you see as the main points that differentiate Pelister Keki Sarac & Co from your competitors?

 Our firm’s main competitive advantage that differentiates us from our competitors is our business approach. I should elaborate what I mean by business approach: Most clients get frustrated when they talk to their lawyers because usually the lawyers first reaction to any question is listing all the reasons why a project or an investment or an agreement should not take place. This is quite normal. This is how we, lawyers, are trained. We determine all risks, even the remote ones, and share these with our clients. Of course, pointing out the risks is very important and should definitely be shared. However, our job is not finished there. It really starts at that point! The clients seek our advice on how to overcome those determined risks and more importantly how to find feasible solutions. Our firm’s philosophy is based on this foundation, i.e. believing in business approach. Every lawyer in our firm is trained from their first day at the firm to think like a businessperson simultaneously as a lawyer. We try to understand the macro- and microeconomics of the industry our clients’ operate, the economic details of the transaction or investment or agreement with third parties. Once we grasp the “big picture”, it becomes much easier to find the desired solution. We apply this business approach and legal solutions together with hands-on close relationships with clients as a dynamic team. Our clients always state that this approach differentiates us from our competitors…

Our ESG and sustainability practice, which is definitely much ahead of our competitors, supports clients in aligning their governance models and sustainability reporting with EU regulations, and advising on the ESG policy harmonisation, supply chain risk assessments, double materiality analyses and legal screening of non-financial disclosures.

 

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

 Nearshoring has been Turkiye’s competitive advantage in the last decade. Strategically speaking, nearshoring creates a lot of opportunities. As the law practices always follow the economics of the country, I see technology related work keep growing in the next 12 months. Privacy, AI and gaming are the usual suspects. One of the other areas we see growing is agriculture. Turkey’s DNA in agriculture is still there and it needs some polishing.

ESG related practices are also growing but the pace is slower than expected.

Energy is another area of growth, especially renewables, storage, and green hydrogen. Last year we became one of the first Turkish law firms to establish a dedicated Energy & Climate Change practice, which positions us at the forefront of supporting clients through the green transition. Our team combines legal and sectoral expertise, often working alongside technical consultants, which allows us to stress-test assumptions and deliver advice that is both legally robust and commercially viable.

Finally, the practice area that we are sure about growth in the next 12 months is financial restructurings and insolvency! The high inflation over the last two years caused a lot of financial distress for the companies. The financial institutions and opportunistic investors will enter into interesting turn-around agreements with distressed companies. Successful transactions will save companies and jobs, not so successful ones will end up in insolvency and gradually in bankruptcy.

 

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

The main change this year is that like a football game we changed our team’s positioning. What does that mean exactly? In years like these, when companies are fighting with economic challenges, they require more experienced lawyers for making informed decisions. Therefore, we have made some changes in the composition of our team and hired more senior lawyers to assist our clients. The change is already being appraised by our clients. The junior team is also very precious since they have an important role as assisting the seniors.

 

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

 Technology, especially the use of AI, is approaching us like a bullet train. We see that AI is improving but still not there to be used as a fully reliable tool. We as lawyers are more conservative in our approach but we know that using AI in our legal practice is inevitable. Thankfully, we have a great number of technology clients that help us speed up the process by guiding us for the use. Specific examples include:

1. We use a client’s AI generated technology to draft simple petitions which goes through a major data of past court decisions and academic journals and provide sound precedent in a very short time.
2. We also conduct a trial of the use of AI generated due diligence tool to go over a great number of agreements and other legal material to create executive summaries.

 

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

 One example that stands out is our work with a Turkish energy company expanding into the renewables market in Romania and the wider CEE region. Our role went far beyond drafting contracts. We guided the client through the investment and regulatory strategy, land structuring, and financing aspects, while coordinating with local counsel, technical consultants and international lenders.

As a result, the client was able to design a bankable financing model and became one of the first Turkish investors to launch a storage-integrated renewable project in Romania. For us, this is a good illustration of how we add value: by combining legal expertise with commercial insight and by managing the full ecosystem of stakeholders so that the client can achieve its strategic goals efficiently and with confidence.

 

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

 In our view, the clients are looking for dynamic law firms, firms that can adapt to the business requirements of the clients and economy. Stability is of course important too, but it should not be interpreted as being old fashioned and not being able to adapt to change. They want advisers who understand where the market is going and can help them navigate change with confidence.

In three years’ time, we see Pelister Keki Sarac & Co continuing to grow as a trusted partner for international investors entering Turkiye and for large Turkish companies expanding abroad. We will further strengthen our position as an independent local firm which has close relations with independent foreign law firms cooperating in complex cross-border M&A, restructuring and regulated sectors such as energy and technology, while deepening our capabilities in ESG and sustainability.

At the same time, we will remain true to what clients value us most: partner-level involvement, commercial/business awareness and feasible solutions.

Our aim is to be recognised not only as a top-tier Turkish firm, but also as a reference point in Türkiye for being “the law firm” that grows your business…