About us

Şafak Herdem, Founder & Managing Partner (1982-2026)

Mr. Şafak Herdem was the founder and managing partner of the HERDEM Attorneys at Law, Istanbul, Türkiye-based law firm focusing on international trade and other international business issues having special focus on aerospace & defense and international trade. Mr. Herdem represented, among others, numerous U.S., Canadian, ASEAN, Middle Eastern and European companies on issues arising under international trade both in advisory and dispute settlement matters. Mr. Herdem counseled numerous foreign firms on securing themselves in complex military purchases in major defense programs in Türkiye. He advised numerous foreign companies on regulatory matters in different industries for their investment planning. He provided export control training to a variety of aerospace and defense firms, as well as government officials and various agencies of the government on industrial cooperation programs. He represented a U.S. fund to acquire MNG Airlines of Türkiye to open to public at New York Stock Exchange in USD 676 million deal. He represented several foreign entities in military offset projects in Türkiye.

Mr. Herdem’s most interesting career started with a Canadian mining company in Türkiye. His practice mainly focused on every aspect of international trade and government contracts law, and he represented some of the major Fortune 500 companies in various projects in Türkiye. He also had wide experience in industrial cooperation and assisted public authorities in law-making progress on regulations. His accomplishments included authoring the first and only legal book on defense procurement in Türkiye and lecturing at reputable universities. His latest book was the first Turkish resource on International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR). For over sixteen years, Mr. Herdem edited and published over five hundred articles published on several worldwide publications including but not limited to Thomson Reuters and Bloomberg. Besides having thousands of readers around the world, Mr. Herdem was counted as a country expert in aerospace defense procurement for three consecutive years by the legal publication of Thomson Reuters.

During the past ten years, Mr. Herdem worked to attract new investors, identify new economic models, turn the new inflow of information into new projects, analyze sectors in detail, and finally helped to establish a wide communication network in industrial cooperation/offset programs in the defense and civil industries. As a result of great relationships with both public and private sector entities, Mr. Herdem acted as a consultant to major organizations and an ambassador of goodwill bridging foreign investment with local Turkish industry and helping to forge new and important commercial alliances. In efforts, such initiative he introduced Global Offset and Industrial Cooperation Association, a U.S.-based NGO, that provided a forum for industry and government leaders to connect, share best practices, policy updates, success stories, and lessons learned for creating and implementing industrial cooperation & partnership programs that deliver sustainable economic and social benefits to the countries where they are established, to American Turkish Business Society in recent years with a panel moderated by Mr. Herdem at American Turkish Council.

Mr. Herdem was also a frequent speaker and commentator on different issues and matters. He was regularly invited by UCLA’s Center for Middle East Development to be a panelist. He also delivered speeches at OECD, American University of Beirut, and Drexel University for various issues and was awarded by the international magazine World Finance at London Stock Exchange. He was recently invited to a workshop organized under the auspices of the U.S. Department of State’s Export Control and Related Border Security Program to train Turkish government officers and private industry by the Center for Policy Research at the State University of New York both in Ankara and Istanbul. He also regularly organized seminars and training programs on the export control laws of the U.S., E.U, and Türkiye. His latest in-presence seminar was a full-day training program on the ITAR for aerospace & defense companies’ in-house counsels in Ankara.

Mr. Herdem was also active in a number of international organizations and served as a country member of the European Association of Trade + Investment Controls and Compliance Attorneys, officer to the International Bar Association’s Power Law Committee, member of the American Bar Association, member to the Swiss-Chinese Law Association, chairman of the Aviation & Aerospace & Space Law Committee of Mackrell International and member of International Compliance Professionals Association. Besides, he was a member of the Turkish Ethics and Reputation Society (TEID), Corporate Governance Association of Türkiye (TKYD), Turkish Quality Association (KALDER).

Besides advising companies, Mr. Herdem also served as a general partner and arbitrator of the American International Commercial Arbitration Court and represented many clients in complex arbitration matters in different jurisdictions. In the years 2019-2023 he was invited by Leiden University in the Hague to act as a judge for a dispute in a moot court.

Simge Kılıç, Managing Partner

Simge Kılıç is the Managing Partner at HERDEM Attorneys at Law, an Istanbul-based firm known for its work in export controls, sanctions, and international trade compliance for Turkish and multinational clients. Her practice sits at the intersection of regulatory compliance and commercial strategy, advising companies in defense, energy, aviation, technology, and manufacturing on how to operate and grow inside an increasingly complex web of export control regimes, sanctions programs, and public procurement rules.

Her core focus is export controls and sanctions compliance. She helps Turkish companies navigate ITAR, EAR, and OFAC requirements, and helps multinational clients understand Türkiye’s own export control and dual-use regimes before they invest, transact, or transfer technology in the market. This dual vantage point, advising both sides of cross-border deals, has made her a trusted advisor to companies that need to move fast without stepping outside a shifting regulatory line.

Simge’s clients span some of the most demanding cross-border sectors. She has advised the Turkish subsidiaries of global industrial and technology groups, including Japanese, German, and Middle Eastern multinationals, on the compliance obligations that come with operating in Türkiye, from corporate governance and employment law to sanctions exposure in their supply chains. On the defense and aerospace side, she has counseled government-owned entities and private manufacturers on the legal architecture of military-industrial projects, export control regimes, and public procurement law, including work for a Gulf-state government authority evaluating investments in Türkiye’s defense sector.

Her energy and infrastructure practice includes advising international project financiers on renewable energy transactions in Türkiye, structuring and closing cross-border financings for wind farm projects, and guiding leading Turkish industrial holding companies through public tenders, sanctions compliance, and cross-border component transfers. In aviation, she has advised on multi-jurisdictional aircraft acquisitions, wet-lease approvals before Türkiye’s civil aviation authority, and one of the country’s largest SPAC-driven aviation listings on the NYSE.

Simge also regularly counsels clients on voluntary self-disclosure procedures under Türkiye’s dual-use control framework. This work requires not just regulatory knowledge but judgment about risk, timing, and how a disclosure will be read by both Turkish and foreign regulators. This is a thread that runs through much of her practice: clients come to her not just for an answer to “is this legal,” but for a read on how a transaction, a subsidiary structure, or a compliance gap will actually play out with regulators, counterparties, and auditors.

Beyond individual transactions, Simge is a builder of compliance infrastructure. She co-founded the Turkish Trade Compliance & Sanctions Network (TTCSN), a steering-committee-led initiative connecting compliance professionals across Türkiye, and she is an active member of Mackrell International’s Energy and Natural Resources, Technology, and Blockchain & Cryptocurrency practice groups, extending her network, and her clients’ reach, across dozens of jurisdictions. She has delivered full-day training seminars on ITAR compliance in Ankara and EAR compliance in Istanbul for in-house counsel at major aerospace, energy, and industrial companies, and she regularly leads HERDEM’s internal and client-facing training on trade and export control compliance.

Her writing has appeared on platforms including Mondaq and Legal360, where she covers corporate governance, compliance frameworks, and international investment. Her approach in both practice and publication is the same: strip a regulation down to what a business actually needs to do about it, and say so plainly.

About HERDEM

HERDEM is an Istanbul-based law firm formed in 2011; it provides the highest quality legal services to its local and international corporate clients. We provide tailor-made legal services to our clients with the aim of contributing to their business objectives. Drawing on the targeted industry knowledge, we help our clients to navigate themselves in their sophisticated legal matters. Our client portfolio includes, but is not limited to, entities in defense & aerospace, life science/pharmaceuticals, tourism & travel, and aviation industries.

Working with us means that you will have a partner “To Respond Together” to all your sophisticated legal problems. Our team consists of dedicated lawyers and counsels that defend the rights of the clients where required: from a contract negotiation meeting to a courtroom, always prioritizing clients’ needs as what a real partner would do.

Our culture always encourages us to bring innovative approaches to the table for our clients. HERDEM tailors contracts, creates business structure, and designs legal documents for clients based on specific industry requirements, clients’ objectives, and legal requirements. This is what we call “Legal Engineering”. Our multilingual Legal Engineers with multidisciplinary backgrounds are ready to apply advanced legal engineering skills for our clients.

International Memberships & Recognition

HERDEM’s tailored practice includes a robust capacity to assist clients across the globe and we continuously maintain our strength both in the local market and internationally.

Our counsels take active roles in international legal organizations such as International Bar Association, American Bar Association and etc. to contribute to and support the international legal community to assist clients in a knowledge-based global economy and regularly speak at international conferences, and participate in training panels on legal issues globally. We are also active in helping advocacy organizations supported by different governments and offer clients a powerful and valuable network of business relationships with senior leaders and professionals from both industries and governments and we further develop our alliances in the legal and commercial areas.