Professional notice
The Turkish firm’s founder is now a member of the ICC Court
| Pending cases as counsel | 6 |
|---|---|
| Value of pending counsel work | US$400 million |
| Treaty cases | 0 |
| Current arbitrator appointments | 4 (of which 1 is as sole or chair) |
| Lawyers sitting as arbitrator | 1 |
Senior partner Ercüment Erdem founded this Istanbul-based firm 30 years ago and leads the dispute resolution practice. It’s on his name that the firm’s reputation in this field largely rests. Erdem often sits as an arbitrator in ICC cases and at institutions in Turkey, Switzerland, Russia and Iran, among others. He also became a member of the ICC Court in 2016.
Although Erdem is the only member of the practice with an international profile, partners Piraye Erdem and Süleyman Sevinç combine international arbitration with commercial litigation expertise.
The firm is tight-lipped about its clients but it’s known to have recently represented Turkey’s Yildirim conglomerate in a US$125 million ICC case against Brazilian tycoon Eike Batista’s mining group CCX. When a planned sale of coal assets in Colombia stalled, Erdem & Erdem helped Yildirim obtain emergency arbitrator relief to prevent CCX from engaging in talks with other potential buyers. The dispute ended in August 2016 with CCX agreeing to sell the assets to Yildirim for US$45 million.
It’s also been acting for a Turkish oil and gas distributor in a dispute being heard under Swiss rules, and represented the claimant in one of the first cases at the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce Arbitration Centre (ITOTAM), which was recently settled.
Erdem & Erdem has also appeared in cases at the Izmir Chamber of Commerce and the Union of Chambers and Commodities Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB). It settled two cases for Turkish Super League clubs, including one for local team Galatasaray at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
In the Turkish courts, it recently won a first-instance decision enforcing a US$65 million ICC award. An appeal is pending.
Erdem & Erdem Law Office
Since its foundation 30 years ago, Erdem&Erdem has pioneered and introduced international arbitration practice and worked the making of international arbitration legislation in Turkey. The arbitration team handles domestic and international cases under the rules of every major arbitration system, under common law and civil law systems. Our lawyers represent clients in disputes across a wide variety of industries including construction, energy, M&A/joint venture disputes, mining, real estate, manufacturing, transportation, telecommunications and sports as lead counsel or arbitrators in Western Europe, Asia, Africa, Middle East and the CIS.
Leading Knowledge
Our approach in national and international arbitration aims to provide clients strong advocacy, effective risk management and experience. We help our clients manage risks inherent in transacting and investing abroad by drafting effective dispute resolution agreements and structuring transactions to take full advantage of protections available under international trade and investment treaties as well as planning and managing potential future disputes particularly in project finance and energy transactions, joint ventures, technology transfers, corporate financings. In resolving both commercial and investor-state disputes, we apply our extensive experience in collecting complex evidence, analyzing applicable law and procedures, developing alternative strategies.
Recognized Team
Led by Senior Partner Prof. Dr. H. Ercüment Erdem, the experience of the senior team attracted global and local clients to rely on Erdem&Erdem for international arbitration cases. While Prof. Erdem’s reputation both as a scholar, litigator and an experienced arbitrator is widely recognized in Turkey and abroad, core members of the team, Ms. Piraye Erdem and Mr. Süleyman Sevinç both have a solid reputation in both commercial litigation and international arbitration.