Our Mission Matters

Elif Sevüktekin has over twenty years of experience in Defense Industry, Aviation Law and Air Accidents, Energy Law, Public-Private Partnerships, and Mergers and Acquisitions, representing both domestic and international clients in arbitration and litigation proceedings across these fields.

She is the founder of Sevüktekin Law, a law firm based in Istanbul with branches in Ankara, Izmir, Paris, and Dubai. She began her professional career after graduating from Istanbul University Faculty of Law in 2004 and completing her LL.M. in International Commercial Law at the University of Leicester. Her practice encompasses the review and drafting of complex commercial contracts, corporate legal advisory, and the representation of clients in international arbitration.

Since 2007, she has served as a Board Member of the Foreign Relations Centre of the Istanbul Bar Association. Between 2015 and 2018, she lectured on Real Estate Law to final-year architecture students at the Faculty of Engineering of Istanbul Kültür University.

Elif is the author of a book on Business Life and Law, published within the scope of the Family Education Program (AEP) of the Ministry of Family and Social Policies. She continues to contribute to the profession as a panelist, speaker, and organizer at various professional events.

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Leonardo Carpentieri is a Partner and Co-Head of the International Arbitration Group at Rosenblatt Law in London.

Leonardo specialises in international commercial and investment treaty arbitration, with over 15 years’ experience acting as counsel and advocate in high-value, cross-border disputes. His practice focuses on the construction, infrastructure and energy sectors, acting for international investors, contractors, state-owned entities and sovereigns in disputes arising from major projects, including EPC contracts, joint ventures, concession arrangements and investment structures.

He has extensive experience in arbitrations conducted under the rules of the ICC, LCIA, ICSID, LMAA, SCC and CAM, as well as in ad hoc proceedings, and has acted in matters seated in both common law and civil law jurisdictions. His work includes representing states and state-linked entities in sensitive disputes arising out of geopolitical events and regulatory change, as well as advising on investment treaty protection, structuring and enforcement strategies.

Leonardo has developed a strong regional focus across Central Asia, the Caspian region, the Middle East and Africa, alongside Europe and Latin America, where he has acted in disputes involving major infrastructure and energy projects and advised on investment protection and risk in emerging markets. His experience includes representing Turkish contractors in cross-border disputes, acting in investor-State and commercial arbitrations arising out of projects in the Gulf and North Africa, and advising on treaty-based claims and protections in complex regulatory environments.

He began his career as an Avocat in Paris before practising in London as a dual-qualified lawyer with leading international firms Baker Botts and Pinsent Masons, and later with the specialist arbitration boutique LMS Legal LLP, before joining Rosenblatt Law in 2023 to establish and co-lead its international arbitration practice. He holds a PhD in law from Université Paris II Panthéon-Assas. He is a Director and former President (England & Wales) of the Franco-British Lawyers Society and is actively involved in international arbitration initiatives and thought leadership. He regularly publishes and speaks on international arbitration, including on investment treaty protection, construction disputes and dispute resolution in emerging markets.

Okan Demirkan is a partner at Kolcuoğlu Demirkan Koçaklı. He leads the Firm’s Dispute Resolution, Energy and Infrastructure as well as Ethics and Compliance practices. 

With significant experience of approximately 25 years in international arbitration, he has been extensively involved in numerous ICC, DIS, SAC, LCIA, DIAC, LME, ITOTAM and ISTAC arbitration proceedings, as well as various ad hoc arbitrations under the UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules. He has served as counsel, arbitrator (presiding arbitrator, sole arbitrator or co-arbitrator) or expert witness. Okan has been heavily involved in arbitration proceedings concerning major infrastructure projects and has successfully represented several international clients as well as local entities in arbitration proceedings concerning disputes arising from build-operate-transfer (BOT) model investments, share purchase agreements, shareholders agreements, sales agreements, EPC contracts and licensing contracts. 

He and his dispute resolution team have represented several international clients in the enforcement of foreign arbitral awards, with a 100% success rate since Okan joined Kolcuoglu Demirkan Kocakli as a name partner. 

Okan is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (FCIArb). He is a Board Member of the Swiss Arbitration Association (ASA). In 2025, he became a Co-Chair of the IBA’s Enforcement & Recognition Sub-Committee. Lexology and GAR recognize him as a “Thought Leader” in the field of Arbitration, and Lexology also lists him in the fields of Commercial Litigation and Asset Recovery. In 2025, Benchmark Litigation has recognized him as “Turkey Litigator of the Year”, and he has been selected as the exclusive Client Choice 2026 winner for Turkey in arbitration, being the sole lawyer in the country to receive this recognition.

Nigar Guliyeva graduated from Istanbul University Faculty of Law in 2015. 

Currently she is a partner at Kılınç Law & Consulting and currently heads Contracts and Dispute Resolution Departments, also works under Project Finance Department. 

She has extensive experience advising on complex cross-border commercial, construction, energy and infrastructure matters, with particular expertise in EPC and FIDIC-based contractual frameworks.

Nigar regularly advises contractors and international investors on the structuring, drafting and negotiation of construction and commercial agreements, as well as on risk allocation and dispute prevention strategies. Her practice combines front-end contract structuring with representation in high-value disputes arising from construction, energy and commercial transactions.

She has represented clients in international arbitration (ISTAC, ICC etc.) and litigation proceedings and has served as arbitrator in international commercial arbitration cases. Her experience includes advising on large-scale infrastructure and energy projects and managing complex contractual and dispute resolution processes.

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Marie-Laure Bizeau is a founding partner of Medici in Paris and a member of the Paris Bar since 2003. She has more than twenty years of experience in international arbitration.

She began her career at Lazareff Law Firm before joining Derains & Gharavi at its creation, where she later became partner, before co-founding Medici.

Marie-Laure regularly acts as arbitrator in international and domestic commercial arbitrations. She has been appointed as president of the tribunal, sole arbitrator and co-arbitrator in proceedings conducted under the rules of various arbitral institutions, including the International Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and the Common Court of Justice and Arbitration (CCJA), as well as in ad hoc arbitrations. These disputes have involved parties from Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia and have concerned a broad range of sectors, including construction and infrastructure, energy, industrial equipment, distribution, telecommunications and healthcare.

In addition to her work as arbitrator, Marie-Laure has extensive experience as counsel in international commercial arbitration proceedings conducted under the rules of major arbitral institutions (ICC, LCIA, DIAC, CRCICA, Swiss Rules, KCAB and UNCITRAL), as well as in investment arbitration proceedings, whether ad hoc (notably under the aegis of the Agreement on Promotion, Protection and Guarantee of Investments among the Member States of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference) or under the ICSID Rules. She also regularly represents parties in arbitration-related litigation before French courts, particularly in annulment and enforcement proceedings.

Marie-Laure is a member of several arbitration associations and panels, including ICC France, the French Arbitration Committee, the French Arbitration Association (AFA), CMAP and the CCJA.

Ulvia Zeynalova-Bockin is a Partner and Co-Managing Partner in Dentons’ Baku office, where she advises on banking and finance, regulated mergers and acquisitions, corporate law, project finance matters, and general business law matters. She brings a distinctly international perspective to her practice, having worked with the Corporation Finance Division of the US Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington, DC, as well as in Salans’ legacy office in New York and Dentons Rodyk in Singapore. Over the course of her career, she has advised local and international clientele in high-profile matetrs and has developed a strong reputation for handling complex, cross-border and strategically significant transactions.

Ms Zeynalova-Bockin has extensive experience advising state-owned enterprises and major commercial clients on high-profile projects and procurement matters in Azerbaijan. 

Her track record in sophisticated financing and corporate transactions has established her as a leading finance and M&A lawyer in Azerbaijan. She is qualified to practise law in Azerbaijan since 2006, admitted to the New York Bar since 2010, and was registered as a foreign lawyer in Singapore from 2017 to 2021. 

Her standing in the market has been recognised by all reading legal directories. Most recent rankings include IFLR1000 raking as Market Leader in Banking and Finance and M&A in Azerbaijan; Band 1 ranking by Chambers & Partners in General Business Law in Azerbaijan; Leading Partner The Legal 500 EMEA. She has been shortlisted for the prestigious Women in Business Law Awards EMEA 2024 in Banking & Finance category by IFLR1000 and included among IFLR1000 Women Leaders for Azerbaijan. 

Ulvia combination of senior leadership, international experience, and deep expertise in complex commercial and financing matters makes her a highly respected practitioner in the Azerbaijani legal market.

Nazli Ahmadova has over 25 years of experience in Business Law, Investment Law, Corporate Law, Intellectual Property Law, International Arbitration and Litigation.

She is the founder and director of Apex Advisors, as law firm based in Azerbaijan. Nazli has advised numerous private businesses, international development organizations and government agencies on matters related to oil and gas services, construction, real estate development, agriculture and food, creative industries and heritage, institutional and capacity building.

Nazli Ahmadova is admitted in the Bar of the Republic of Azerbaijan. She is the founding Chair of the Business Law Committee of the Azerbaijani Bar Association and represents the Azerbaijani Bar Association at LAWASIA, the organization connecting the legal professionals from Asia and the Pacific. She is acknowledged by the Chambers Global 2011 as being "very positively viewed in the oil and gas market."

She was a speaker or moderator at several international conferences on creative industries, heritage and restitution, and international arbitration.

She has authored articles on practical issues of law, the first legal blog on intellectual property in Azerbaijani, nazliahmad.wordpress.com, and amicus curae opinions for the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Azerbaijan. She is the founder of Culture4U, a research group on heritage law, Legal Postcards ("Hüquqi açıqcalar"), a legal educational project. Nazli was an adjunct lecturer on Property Law at the ADA University Law School, Baku, Azerbaijan.

Ms Ahmadova holds a Bachelor of Law and Master of Law from the Baku State University and the LL.M. from the University of Minnesota Law School, MN, USA.

Azar Aliyev is a Professor of International Economic Law and Comparative Law at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg. He earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in law from Baku State University with distinction, then completed a Master of Laws at Heidelberg University, graduating magna cum laude. His research focuses on international contract law, international commercial arbitration, the law of digital technologies, and the comparative analysis of the legal systems of post-Soviet countries.

Professor Aliyev currently serves as the scientific director of the project "The European Center of Just Transition Research and Impact-Driven Transfer" (JTC) and is co-director of the Institute for Structural Change and Sustainability at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg. He is a member of the Scientific-AdvisoryCouncil of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Azerbaijan and a member of the working group on the modernization of the Civil Code. Professor Aliyev has served as a legal expert before international and domestic courts, including arbitral institutions such as the International Chamber of Commerce and the Permanent Court of Arbitration, and has acted as an international expert in private and business law reforms for a number of states.