Elite Firm in the GCR 100 15th Edition

ELIG Gürkaynak Attorneys-at-Law is pleased to be ranked as an Elite firm in the GCR 100 15th Edition

Mention competition law in Turkey and, for many, the first name that springs to mind is ELİG Attorneys at Law. This may explain why the firm so often takes a piece of deals that require worldwide notification, such as Publicis/Omnicom. ELİG’s team is led by renowned specialist Gönenç Gürkaynak. K Kohran Yıldırım, who was promoted to partner in January 2014, five senior associates and 10 associates support Gürkaynak, making ELİG the largest competition practice in Turkey.

“If there’s anything interesting going on in competition law in Turkey, you’ll find that we are a part of it,” says Gürkaynak. The firm has done everything, many times over: competition law litigation, investigation defence work, merger clearance, exemption applications, day-to-day advice, compliance programmes for companies and competition law training seminars and advisory comments for public officials.

Gürkaynak defends Turkish Airlines against the authority’s on-again, off-again dominance probes, and cement companies ÇimSA and Adana Çimento against cartel allegations. In the latter case, the authority’s decision-making board rejected collusion and price-fixing allegations due to a lack of evidence, despite the case-handler’s recommendation of fines. In October 2014, the authority found that four companies had colluded to fix the price of fresh yeast. ELİG’s client Mauri Maya Sanayi was due to receive the largest fine, but instead received full immunity – even though it applied for leniency after the preliminary investigation and the dawn raids.