White & Case has confirmed that Partner Zeynep Cakmak, the co-Managing Partner of associated Turkish firm Cakmak-Gokce Law Firm, will leave the firm and withdraw from the White & Case partnership on January 31, 2018 to re-join the Cakmak Avukatlik Ortakligi, after which White & Case will provide Turkish law advice in Istanbul through a professional association with a sole proprietorship of Partner Guniz Gokce.
A White & Case spokesperson commented that, "Zeynep has made a substantial contribution to the service we provide our clients in Turkey, and we wish her every success in her future endeavors. Guniz Gokce has been appointed Istanbul Office Executive Partner, effective February 1, 2018. White & Case is committed to its clients in Turkey, where we have been active for nearly 40 years with an office in Istanbul since 1985."
Zeynep joined the local firm in Ankara in 1994, and was elected a partner of White & Case in 2010.
Cakmak has been associated with White & Case for over 20 years, first (from 1994-2015) with the Cakmak Law Firm, the Turkish firm associated with White & Case in Ankara, and in September 2015 she moved to Istanbul to become Co-Managing Partner of Cakmak-Gokce (as reported by CEE Legal Matters on September 21, 2015). She was elected a partner at White & Case in 2010.
According to White & Case, the formal name of the new local firm headed by Guniz Gokce is yet to be decided.
