About

İstanbul Hukuk Danışmanlık is a law office founded by Att. Esra Ateş and based in Sirkeci, Istanbul. The office advises companies and individuals and acts for them in disputes.

What we work on

Our work is concentrated in maritime trade and customs disputes and in commercial and tourism law. Family and inheritance law are also areas in which the office regularly carries files.

These areas share one feature: the time limits are short, and most of them extinguish the right itself. Notice of cargo damage is counted in days, an objection to a customs notification in two weeks, renunciation of an inheritance in three months. What is established in the first days of a file shapes every step that follows, which is why the first meeting begins with the calendar.

How we work

First we establish what happened

In the first meeting we go through the events, the documents you hold and the periods already running. At the end of that stage you receive, in writing, which legal routes are open, which have closed, and what each one means.

We set out the options with their consequences

Litigation is not always the first option. Mediation, an administrative objection, settlement or redrafting the contract are often shorter and less costly routes. You decide which route to take, knowing the likely outcome and the time each one takes.

We keep the process in writing

We report every step taken in the file, every notification received and every decision given. We prefer to explain what a hearing or a deadline means before you have to ask.

Support at the contract stage

A large share of commercial disputes arises from a clause overlooked when the contract was drawn up. Drafting and negotiating carriage, distribution, supply and accommodation contracts is therefore part of the office's regular work, and it makes a good part of later litigation unnecessary from the outset.

What we publish

The articles on this site grow out of the questions clients ask most often and are intended as general information. They do not take the place of legal advice: every dispute is assessed on its own facts. References to legislation are current as at the date of publication; we review the articles regularly and show the date of the latest review on the page.