Defne Örnek graduated from Lycée Saint-Joseph in Izmir and Galatasaray University Law School in Istanbul. She completed an LL.M. in European and International Business Law at Leiden University, and obtained an LL.M. from Harvard Law School.
At the outset of her career, Defne focused on corporate, M&A and JV matters. Her main areas of expertise include European Union law, cross-border commercial transactions, international commercial law and arbitration, trade defense instruments, antitrust, data protection and corporate governance. She has extensive experience in compliance with key European Union regulations such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CS3D), the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) and the Foreign Subsidies Regulation (FSR). She has advised both international and domestic companies, particularly in the pharmaceutical, and technology sectors, on regulatory compliance as well as cross-border transactions.
Having spent a significant part of her career in Brussels, Defne has represented clients in trade defense investigations (anti-dumping, anti subsidy, and safeguard measures) before the European Commission and international institutions, worked on cases before the Court of Justice of the European Union and the World Trade Organization, and provided counsel on cross-border transactions and international arbitration.
Defne is admitted to the Brussels Bar (B-List), Istanbul Bar and New York Bar. She is fluent in English and French, and also speaks intermediate Dutch and Spanish.
