Umut Kolcuoğlu

Practice Areas

Mergers and Acquisitions, Corporate and Commercial, Banking, Finance and Capital Markets

Career

Dr. Umut Kolcuoğlu is the Firm’s founder and managing partner. He was an associate lawyer in a major Istanbul-based law firm between 1998 and 2000 and again between 2003 and 2005. He was seconded to Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, New York, in 2002. He also worked as a foreign associate at Hengeler Mueller in Frankfurt between 2005 and 2006 and subsequently founded the Firm in 2007.

He is a columnist for Turkey’s leading economy newspaper, Nasıl Bir Ekonomi Gazetesi (https://www.ekonomim.com), where he writes on business and commercial law matters. He is the author of “Mandatory Tender Offers in Capital Market Law,” (Vedat Publications, April 2009).

Professional Memberships

Board Member of Boyner Group; Member of the Board of Trustees of Turkish Entrepreneurship Foundation; Advisory Board Member of Istanbul Bilgi University School of Law; New York Bar Association; Istanbul Bar Association; International Bar Association (IBA)

Personal

Istanbul University School of Law (Ph.D. in Corporate Law and Capital Market Law, 2009); New York University School of Law (LL.M. in Corporate Law, 2001); Istanbul University School of Law (LL.B.,1998); Sankt Georg Austrian High School (1994)

Experience

Dr. Umut Kolcuoğlu has approximately 30 years of experience advising on M&A, privatizations, joint ventures, capital markets, corporate and finance transactions, as well as international commercial dispute resolution. He has advised leading domestic and multinational companies and private equity firms on a wide range of cross-border and local transactions across numerous industry sectors, including energy and infrastructure, insurance, retail, technology, aerospace, hospitality, electronics, automotive, pharmaceuticals and financial services. He also has extensive experience in restructurings and finance transactions involving leading banks, borrowers, financial institutions, funds and other public and private companies.

Umut also provides corporate and commercial law support to companies and individuals in both contentious and non-contentious matters. From time to time, he acts as expert witness in international arbitration proceedings concerning corporate and commercial disputes.

He leads the Firm’s German Desk. Aside from his legal practice, Umut serves as an independent board member of several companies. He is also a member of the board of trustees of the Turkish Entrepreneurship Foundation and contributes to the development of the Turkish entrepreneurship ecosystem.

Languages Spoken

English, German, Turkish