On November 16, 2021, our Managing Partner Erdem Mümtaz Hacıpaşaoğlu delivered a training session at ELSA Istanbul‘s Lawyers @ Work event, themed around what it actually means to practice startup law as a junior lawyer in Turkey.
The central thesis of the training was clear: startup law is not a sub-specialty of corporate law — it is a distinct practice culture in which the lawyer sits across the table from a founder under existential pressure, has to understand product and revenue mechanics, and has to learn to deliver yes / no / how decisions in hours rather than weeks.
Day in the life of a startup lawyer
Mümtaz walked the audience through what a working week looks like: SAFE notes negotiated with U.S. funds at 9 a.m., a founder dispute mediated at 11 a.m., a 409A discussion with a U.S. CFO at 2 p.m., an IP assignment for a new engineering hire at 4 p.m., and a closing call across three time zones at 9 p.m. The point was not to glamorize the rhythm but to be honest about the operating tempo the practice requires.
What ELSA students were looking for
The Q&A focused heavily on entry paths into the practice: which firms to look at, what kinds of internships build the right base, and which transferable skills — drafting, negotiation, financial fluency, product literacy — separate the lawyers who get hired into startup-law teams from those who don’t.
The shape of a career
Closing the session, Mümtaz emphasized that the career compounds on craft, not on title: the founders who become repeat clients over 5–10 years remember which lawyer kept their company alive in their first crisis, not which letterhead they happened to work under at the time.
