ELENA BAKMAZ

Elena Bakmaz was born in Riga, Latvia. She speaks fluently Russian, Latvian, Turkish and English.

She graduated from the University of Latvia, Faculty of Law (LL.B) in 2006 and Banking Institution of Higher Education, Faculty of Economics and Management (BBA) in 2005.

She started her career as a consultant on corporate and tax matters in International Legal Services Limited (Riga, Latvia) in 2002. After she immigrated to Istanbul, Turkey, she worked as a lawyer in prominent law firms for 11 years. She advised local and international clients on corporate law matters and mergers & acquisitions, commercial law, foreign investments, real estate law, energy and natural resources regulation, labour and employment law, immigration and foreigners’ law issues. She handled commercial court proceedings in Turkey and conducted arbitration proceedings before English and Sweden arbitral tribunals in cooperation with the foreign law firms; she has experience in performing recognition and execution proceedings of the foreign arbitral awards and court decisions. In 2010, she participated as a speaker to a legal seminar in Moscow with a subject “Recognition and Execution of Russian Court Decisions in Turkey and Turkish court decisions in Russia”. She also advised foreign marine insurance underwriters, brokers and shipowners on maritime & shipping law matters.

She headed Russian, Ukrainian and CIS Desk in the Turkish headquarters as well as coordinated work of the Moscow office of the firm, so she has a solid experience in various international investment projects in Turkey and abroad.

In September 2018, she started her individual practice. Currently, she focuses on foreign investments, corporate matters, labour and employment matters, real estate transactions, energy and natural resources projects, commercial contracts, immigration and general tax consultancy.