From the 2nd until the 4th of October, the Eptalex members: Allessandra Nitti, Cristina Knupfer and Marie Achkar have attended the GBL Alliance Autumn conference in Istanbul. The conference has constituted a great opportunity for all the attendees to network, exchange knowledge and discuss the business developments of the Alliance.
Right after a very warm welcome from Umut Metin, president of GBL Alliance, the guest of honor, Zekeriya Birkan, Vice Minister of Justice in the Turkish Republic initiated the conference by an opening speech followed by a speech on the changing face of Turkish Law and Turkey as a role model in Mediation by Hakan Öztatar, Judge and General Director of Legal Affairs at the Turkish Justice Ministry.

Further keynote speeches were delivered firstly, by Emre Aykar, partner and Board Member at Yapi Merkzi, who discussed the legal perspective and the role of Turkey in the recent developments in the international construction sector. The latter was followed by speeches by Prof. Dr. Emre Alkin on the 2020 expectations and Fatih Akgül on the Data Driven Law. As for the GBL Alliance’s side, Karin Wiig, Director at Double i International, updated the attendees on the business development and communications updates of the Alliance.
In the third part of the conference, Employment Law was brought into the discussion. Prof. Dr. Cem Kilic addressed the members by giving an overview on the changes in Turkish Employment Law and social security system. Additionally, together Hand Moltamker from Galatea Advocaten, Kalle Pedak from Hedman Partners, Marek Wiewiorski from Wiewiorski Legal and Abdelkader Hamida from Vaughan Avocats, targeted the hot topic in Employment Law in Europe: Capped Damages in Unfair Dismissals by giving their different countries’ perception.

Last but not least, Tomas Bagdanskis from Ilaw spoke about the international law firm networks and their developments.
Between the dialogues and exchange of experiences, the GBL members also enjoyed the touristic side of Turkey by visiting the historical Peninsula, the Blue Mosque, the Hippodrome, Hagia Sophia and the Topkapi Palace.
We sincerely thank the GBL Alliance team for the great conference and organization. We are looking forward to the next spring (2020) conference in Helsinki!