Know Your Lawyer: Emre Atayilmaz of AECO Law

Career:

• Denton Wilde Sapte (now Dentons)/Guner Law Office; Associate; 2002-2008;
• Denton Wilde Sapte (now Dentons)/Guner Law Office; Senior Associate; 2008-2010;
• SNR Denton (now Dentons)/Guner Law Office; Senior Associate; 2010-2010
• PAE Law Office; Founding Partner; 2010-2024;
• AECO Law; Founding Partner; 2024-Present

Education:

• Marmara University, Law Degree; 1998
• Tulane Law School; LL.M.; 2001

Favorites:

• Out-of-office activity: Travelling and history.
• Quote: Let the good times roll.
• Book: The Name of the Rose
• Movie: Eyes Wide Shut

Top 5 Projects:

• Advising Cigna on the redundancy of their personnel as a result of the winding down of their operations in their health and life subsidiary, Cigna Hayat. The project included face-to-face meetings with almost 60 employees as a part of their redundancy procedures.
• Advising Hyatt on their hotel projects in Izmir, Turkey. The project included the due diligence exercise as well as working on the relevant contracts and negotiating with the counterparty. 
• Advising RCI – a part of Wyndham Hotels and Resorts – a timeshare exchange company. The project was in relation to a big hotel operation located in Istanbul. Among others, the project included analyzing the applicable operation licenses and zoning requirements.
• Advising the well-known fashion brand Ralph Lauren on the dispute arising from their internal employment policy awarding rights to their employees.
• Advising Wizz Air on Turkish law requirements for airline companies. The advice included commercial law and administrative law requirements under Turkish law.

CEELM: What would you say was the most challenging project you ever worked on and why?

Atayilmaz: In my experience, the most challenging project was a real estate project in which we acted for an Eastern European individual. The project was purchasing two villas for approximately EUR 15 million in a resort in Bodrum, Turkiye. In the project, we carried out an extensive due diligence exercise and negotiated several contracts including the sale and purchase contract with the seller side. The negotiations were rather challenging due to the mismatch of the cultures. The expectations of the parties from each other and the way that they do business were totally different which caused inefficient negotiations and a series of misunderstandings.

CEELM: And what was your main takeaway from it?

Atayilmaz: My main takeaway was: “Never underestimate the cultural differences between the parties!” I realized that the parties’ backgrounds in a project go beyond business considerations and technicalities therein.

CEELM: What is one thing clients likely don’t know about you?

Atayilmaz: I am a pleasure-seeking person who is very much into traveling and wining and dining as much as business.

CEELM: Name one mentor who played a big role in your career and how they impacted you.

Atayilmaz: Paul Sheridan who was the Partner at legacy firm Denton Wilde Sapte (and later Dentons), hired me and initially played a big role in my career. He supported me greatly in my professional life and, at the same time, became a good friend over the years. Paul is currently based in Oman.

CEELM: Name one mentee, you are particularly proud of.

Atayilmaz: Omer Er was a remarkable mentee for me. I was his mentor at Denton Wilde Sapte. He was smart, hard-working, and also business-minded which is an amazing asset for lawyers. After his successful career at Dentons, Omer moved to the US. He is currently a Partner in New York-based Michelman & Robinson with expertise in cross-border disputes.

CEELM: What is the one piece of advice you’d give yourself fresh out of law school?

Atayilmaz: Always value the friendships you made in law school. The network of friends you make helps you a lot both professionally and socially.

This article was originally published in Issue 11.9 of the CEE Legal Matters Magazine. If you would like to receive a hard copy of the magazine, you can subscribe here.