Dr. Elif Şen

Dr. Elif Şen is Of Counsel to GlobalB Law, based in Beijing. Among the most senior Turkish in-house counsel of her generation, she spent three decades leading the legal functions of some of Türkiye’s largest conglomerates, banks and energy companies before relocating to China, where she now advises on investments, market entry and cross-border transactions between Türkiye, Europe and Asia. She is known professionally in China as 艾莉芙 申.

Career

Elif began her legal career in İstanbul and served as a research assistant at İstanbul University Faculty of Law (1992–1994). She practised in the legal department of Doğuş Holding (1994–1998), managed legal and consulting work at Arthur Andersen (1998–2000) and worked with the leading İstanbul firm Hergüner Bilgen Özeke (2000). After in-house roles at Türk Nokta Net (2001–2002) and Sabancı Telekomünikasyon (2002–2004), she joined Hacı Ömer Sabancı Holding — one of Türkiye’s largest industrial and financial groups — as Legal Counsel in 2004 and served as its Chief Legal Counsel from 2011 to 2014, advising the group’s companies on joint ventures, M&A and corporate governance. She was subsequently Chief Legal Counsel of Odeabank (2015–2016) and Chief Legal Officer of SOCAR Türkiye (2016–2018), the Turkish arm of Azerbaijan’s state energy company and one of the largest foreign direct investors in Türkiye.

Beijing Practice

Since 2018 Elif has led advisory work at Skill&Proof Consulting in Beijing. Her practice covers the full life cycle of investments: pre-investment strategy, structuring and negotiation; financing and representation before banks and lenders; and post-investment integration. She works extensively on sustainability and green-finance mandates and closely follows Chinese regulatory developments in green taxonomy, sustainability disclosure and carbon markets.

Recognition & Credentials

Elif was named to the Legal 500 GC Powerlist Turkey in 2017, which described her as a decorated in-house lawyer, highly regarded and respected in Türkiye’s in-house legal circles, and noted her specialisation in joint ventures, corporate governance and intellectual property. She is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (FCIArb) and holds master’s and doctoral degrees in law from Marmara University.