Mr. Mehmet Sait TOYDEMIR
Founding Partner
1948 – 2020

Mr. Mehmet Sait TOYDEMIR, has graduated from the French Lycée of Saint-Joseph Istanbul, has received his LL.B. at the Law School of Fribourg, Switzerland and Istanbul University Law Faculty, is admitted to the Istanbul Bar in 1977, and speaks Turkish, French and English. He began his career as Assistant Attorney in a major Turkish Bank in charge of labor law issues including collective bargaining agreements. He then acted as an in-house lawyer in two Turkish banks and in an international insurance company consecutively. During his 40 years of experience in acting as a legal consultant, Mr. Toydemir has worked 14 years in a major law office as a Partner Associate, working on Foreign Investment, Corporate Law, Arbitration, Commercial Law, and Litigation.

He also provided legal advice on a wide range of Investment Banking transactions, privatizations, loans, structured finance and contracts, and managed relations with all outside counsel involved. Mr. Toydemir was accepted as a legal advisor of the Privatization Administration in their first attempt to privatize TUPRAS and POAS. He has completed mergers in the automotive and insurance sectors; established four banks and numerous foreign investment and local companies; provided legal consultancy for a telecom company locally and abroad; won many court cases, mainly consisting of various commercial cases, intellectual property litigation, labor cases in favor of the employer; concluded amicable settlements in collection of foreign banks’ credits; represented his clients in three ICC arbitration cases, one of which was won at the end of the arbitration process and the other two resulted in amicable settlements in favor of his clients; concluded two Competition Board authorizations.

Practice areas: Corporate, Commercial Law, Banking and Finance, Competition, Employment Law, Litigation, Enforcement and Bankruptcy, Consumer Law, International Arbitration, Sport Law, Mergers and Acquisitions, Environment and Real Estate.

Mr. Osman Fikret TUMEN
Founding Partner
ftumen@toydemir-tumen.av.tr

Mr. Osman Fikret TUMEN, has graduated from the French Lycée of Saint-Joseph Istanbul, has received his LL.B. at the Law School of Istanbul, is admitted to the Istanbul Bar in 1984, and speaks Turkish, French and English. He began his career in 1978 as an assistant professor at the Istanbul University lecturing Roman law courses. During his University service, he attended the University of Milan and then the University of Paris, Paris II, with a scholarship of the Council of Europe for concluding academic researches. He has held the positions of Executive Vice President of Ottoman Bank and head of the legal department for 18 years where he concentrated on the change of Ottoman Bank’s legal status, the merger of Korfezbank to Ottomanbank, provided legal advice on Treasury, Credits, Custody and Contracts, handled the establishment of branches in Turkey and Luxembourg, acted as the Bank’s representative in the collective agreements and provided legal training to bankers. He also provided advice on a wide range of banking transactions, loans, structured finance and contracts, and managed a large team of legal staff as well as outside counsels.

He worked in the area of corporate law, in establishing companies, companies’ general secretariat, mergers and acquisitions and share transfers and carries on his services of consultancy in reviewing, amending and commenting, if needed, the agreements of the companies, issuing opinions regarding the agreements in the field of banking, loan agreements and collateral agreements. Actually he is providing legal services to national Turkish and international foreign banks and companies.

He worked on various documentations, provided legal opinion and executed securities to numerous Delcredere, Hermes, COFACE, OEKB, EGAP, Slovak Exim and SERV transactions.

Practice areas: Banking and Finance, Commercial Law, Corporate, Employment, Contracts, Consumer Law, Mergers and Acquisitions, Enforcement and Bankruptcy and Real Estate.

Mrs. Melis Seremet BUYUKCELEN
Partner
mseremet@toydemir-tumen.av.tr

Mrs. Melis Seremet BUYUKCELEN, has graduated from the French Lycée of Saint Michel Istanbul, received her LL.B. at the Law School of Istanbul University, LL.M. first year at the Law School of Istanbul University, Private Law is admitted to the Istanbul Bar in 2005 (transferred to Mugla Bar, 2008 until July 2009) and speaks Turkish, French and English. She started her career in Istanbul concentrating on Contract Law, Corporate Law. She has worked also on Intellectual Property, Consumer, Employment, Competition, Corporate, Litigation, Mergers and Acquisitions. Her article regarding “Construction Agreements and International Federation of Consulting Engineers (FIDIC)” has been published in the Journal of Istanbul Bar Association. She represents more than 100 British citizens in regards to property purchase in Turkey. She also provides advice to real estate agencies, developers and local and foreign investors.

Practice areas: Real Estate and Construction, Contracts, Intellectual Property, Employment, Competition, Corporate, Litigation, Mergers and Acquisitions and Family Law.

Ms. Melek GUVEN
Paralegal
mguven@toydemir-tumen.av.tr

Ms. Melek GUVEN has graduated from the School of Justice of Istanbul, acts as paralegal since the establishment of the Law Office.