CORE Consulting and Onal Attorneys at Law have merged to form a new law firm in Turkiye: CoPartners Competition & Regulation.
CoPartners is led by Onal Attorneys at Law founder Emre Onal and CORE Consulting founder Sezin Elcin Cengiz. While Onal Attorneys at Law was established in January 2022, CEE Legal Matters reported on CORE Consulting's launch back on August 4, 2023.
According to the new firm, the merger aims to create "Turkiye’s go-to firm in competition law and regulation, drawing on Sezin’s and Emre’s extensive experience delivering top-tier services at international law firms, all within an independent framework."
Cengiz, who has been practicing law for 23 years, has been helming her own firm since 2023. Before that, she spent 12 years with White & Case, the first ten as a Senior Advisor and the final two as a Senior Director for Competition, leading the firm's Competition practice group. Before that, she spent ten years with the Turkish Competition Authority as an Antitrust Expert and Case Handler, between 2001 and 2011.
Onal has 21 years of experience in private practice. Before establishing Onal Attorneys at Law at the start of 2022, he served as the head of Competition/Antitrust practice with Allen & Overy for eight years. Earlier, he spent a year with Arikan as a Partner and, earlier still, four and a half years with Aslan as a Senior Associate. He began his career in 2004 as an Associate with the Actecon Competition & Regulation Consultancy, where he spent three years.
In addition to Cengiz and Onal, the CoPartners team includes Partner Adnan Akgun and Associates Zeynep Ozgultekin, Umut Bakanogullari, Bahadır Bektas, Merve Demirkaya, and Ilayda Akca.
"This is an exciting new chapter for me and Emre," Cengiz commented. "Our backgrounds are remarkably similar, and this merger will enable us to leverage our collective strengths and resources to better serve our clients while achieving shared success."
"I am confident that Sezin and I will make this firm the powerhouse for competition and regulation advisory services in Turkey and the Middle East region," Onal added. "This merger will bolster our capabilities and broaden our scope, enabling us to provide outstanding legal services that surpass client expectations."
