About the practice
Turkish Maritime Lawyer is the maritime practice of Lexin Legal, a law firm in Kağıthane, Istanbul, founded by attorneys Onur Çalışıcı and Oruç Aygün. The website exists for one situation: a foreign owner, operator, creditor, crew member, cargo interest or yacht owner whose vessel or claim is in a Turkish port and who needs a Turkish lawyer to act on it. We advise and act on ship arrest and release, maritime claims and their recovery, cargo and charter party disputes, casualties, pollution and port penalties, Port State Control detentions, seafarers' claims, yachts, sale and purchase and marine insurance.
We do not claim a specialisation, a track of past results or a response time. What we set out on these pages is the procedure as the Turkish Commercial Code and the related laws lay it down — who is competent, what the court asks for, which time limits run — so that you can judge for yourself what an instruction involves before you send one.
How the practice is organised
The practice is operated by Lexin Legal, Kağıthane, Istanbul. Both attorneys are members of the Istanbul Bar Association; the bar registration numbers and the office address appear in the legal notice. Instructions are taken by the attorneys personally: the first message is read by a lawyer, the conflict check and the fee proposal come from a lawyer, and the lawyer who takes the instruction runs the file to the end. Fees are agreed in writing before work starts; court fees, enforcement costs and the security the court requires are advanced by the client and stated separately.
Languages
Legal services in English and Turkish. Correspondence in French. Documents in English are read as they are; Turkish court filings are prepared by us, and the key documents are explained to you in English. French-speaking clients correspond with us in French; an interpreter can be arranged for meetings and hearings on request.
Correspondent counsel
Please noteOur office is in Istanbul, and at the Istanbul ports — Ambarlı, Haydarpaşa, Tuzla and the Bosphorus anchorages — we attend in person. At other Turkish ports we act through correspondent counsel: a local lawyer who files at the courthouse and accompanies the enforcement officer to the vessel under our instructions, while we run the file. We tell you who attends and when, and we do not describe a correspondent as our own office.
Bar rules and this website
Turkish lawyers are bound by the Attorneys' Act and the Turkish Bar Association's rules on advertising. This website therefore lists practice areas and explains procedures; it does not claim expertise or results, gives no response-time promise, carries no client testimonials or ratings, and makes no offer of advice without charge. Nothing on it is legal advice on a particular case; advice is given after instruction, on the documents.
