Emre Önal

Qualified both in Istanbul and New York, Emre is an antitrust lawyer with over 20 years of dedicated experience in all aspects of competition law.

Before founding CoPartners, Emre led his own competition boutique for 2 years. Prior to that, for a period of 8 years, he was the head of the Competition/Antitrust practice at the Turkey office of Allen & Overy, where he also oversaw the Middle East region during his final three years. At the start of his career, Emre spent almost a decade at local firms specialized in competition law, before transitioning to the role of managing associate in the Competition/Antitrust department of DLA Piper in Turkey for over a year.

Throughout his career, Emre coordinated and led the competition aspects of numerous complex merger cases of Turkish and international clients, from the initial stages of merger discussions until the final approvals by the competition authorities in Turkey and the Middle East region. He regularly oversees multijurisdictional reviews and filings of merger control, foreign direct investment and other regulatory issues arising from cross-border transactions.

Emre is an experienced litigator representing clients in investigations before the Turkish Competition Authority (TCA), appeals of the TCA decisions before the administrative courts, as well as damages actions on competition law before the national and foreign courts and arbitration institutions. Emre also advises clients regularly on their daily practices and contractual relationships from a competition law perspective. He regularly gives competition law trainings as part of compliance programs implemented for clients.

Emre has been regularly recognised by international directories, most recently by Chambers & Partners in Competition / Antitrust category in Chambers Europe 2024. Clients praise him for his meticulous attention to detail and his ability to provide pragmatic, solution-focused advice. His extensive experience enables him to leverage best practices from various jurisdictions and craft strategies and solutions for the most challenging issues.