Karaahmet Luz & Greenberg LLP (“KLG”) - Newsletter

Karaahmet Luz & Greenberg LLP (“KLG”) is a general practice international boutique law firm headquartered in New York. We offer legal advice to individuals, companies, financial institutions and private funds in all aspects of corporate and investment law, commercial disputes, corporate and real estate litigation, trademark law, and real estate law.

We are growing our global web and becoming a well received business consulting partner, with strong and solid contacts from Washington, DC to Ankara, New York to Zurich to Istanbul, from Latin America throughout the Turkic Republics and India.

NOW IS A GOOD TIME TO SET UP U.S. OPERATIONS FOR TURKISH ENTREPRENUERS

The U.S. and Turkish governments are offering and working on many initiatives to INCREASE AND SUPPORT trade relations between the two countries.

According to Foreign Secretariat of the Turkish Republic Prime Ministry for Foreign Trade, the yearly basis support limit for the foreign-based businesses has been raised to $120,000 for industrial companies and to $100,000 for trade companies.

In the same initiative, the yearly basis support limit for office/showroom/depot-storages has been raised from $50,000 to $100,000 for industrial companies and from $40,000 to $75,000 for trade companies.  The basis support ratio for rent expenses has been raised from 50% to 60% for the overseas units of industrial and trade companies.  The support period has been raised from 3 years to four years.

The support limit for representative offices is $150,000 per country for the companies that have units abroad.  The representation support limit for companies that do not have an overseas unit but have trademarks registered in the foreign country has been raised to $250,000.

The maximum support limit for trademark registration and preservation has been raised from $20,000 to $50,000.  The government will support trademarks covered by a domestic trade registration certificate; expenditures for trademark/patent bureau service & consulting; and costs of inspection, investigation, advocacy and other mandatory expenditures for the preservation of the trademarks.

For more information or to learn more about the available “tesviks” for Turkish companies, please contact Barbaros Karaahmet at bkara@karalaw.com and/or Sueda Sonmez, Director of Marketing at sueda@karalaw.com

WHAT’S NEW AT KLG?

In October 2010, Sueda Sonmez (sueda@karalaw.com) joined us as our Marketing and Business Development Director to reach beyond borders and promote Turkish-American business relations.  She brings over fifteen years of dynamic management and business development experience and accomplishments in progressive positions to KLG.  Her diverse background includes client relations management, e-commerce, mortgage banking, international institutional investor public relations, investment banking compliance, business development and project management for private sector.

Related to her responsibilities at our firm now, in 2005-2007 she managed a project for ABFT, American Business Forum in Turkey opening doors for initial relations between Manhattan Chamber of Commerce and Istanbul Chamber of Commerce to help build bilateral business relations between the American and Turkish small to medium size enterprises (SME).  The "Investment Opportunities and Business Environment in Turkey" conference that she organized for World Trade Week’06 in New York City brought Istanbul Chamber of Commerce and Manhattan Chamber of Commerce together, having ICOC Chairman and MCC President as speakers. The initiative was the first time for Turkey to participate in the WTW'USA since its inception by President Roosevelt in over 70 years. She was the catalyst for Turkish Trade Attaches to join the week long events in New York and for both chambers to develop and build extensive working relations which led to NY State Chamber of Commerce to open an investment office in 2010 in Istanbul.

A New Yorker for over 30 years, Sueda holds a BA in International Relations from Marymount Manhattan College and was the recipient of Gold Medal for "Outstanding Academic Performance and Achievement".   She has served in several executive committees; currently she is a member of BPW International/Ankara Chapter, serves at the Board of TKDF(Federation of Turkish Women Organizations) and a member of Raising Malawi, a children’s charity.

We opened our Latin-American Practice on November 1, 2010.  The practice was conceived to provide counsel and representation to its Latin-American clients doing business in the United States, Hispanic/Latino-owned companies in the U.S., and domestic and international companies targeting the U.S. Hispanic/Latino market. The Latin- American Practice also provides advice to individuals and companies doing business in Latin America.

Danilo Arsenijevith (danilo@karalaw.com) is a business manager and attorney (admitted to practice law in Venezuela only). He obtained his Abogado (J.D.) Degree from Universidad Central de Venezuela, an LL.M. in Comparative Jurisprudence from New York University School of Law and a Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.) from Florida Metropolitan University in Tampa.  He specializes in advising individual and corporate clients on investments and business transactions in the United States of America and Latin America. Danilo has worked for law firms in Caracas, Mexico and New York, and more recently managed a group of companies in Florida. He speaks Spanish and Serbian. 

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Sueda became a member of the Ankara Chapter of the International Federation of Business and Professional Women (“BPW”), representing KLG.  She visited Konya on November 27-28, 2010 with the Assembly of Turkish Women Associations (“TKDF”) and BPW delegation, held private meetings with Konya Chamber of Industry, Konya Chamber of Commerce, BPW and TKDF to establish relations and KLG business partnership awareness.

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Barbaros Karaahmet and Berna N. Karaahmetoglu (partner at our Istanbul office) authored the Turkish Chapter of International Commercial Secured Transactions reference book which was published by Thomson Reuters in 2010.

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KLG partner Michael Greenberg heads our real estate practice.  Michael was trained in two of the finest real estate law firms in the United States, Drinker Biddle & Reath in Philadelphia and Herrick Feinstein in New York.  Michael and the real estate group make their top-level training and expertise available to KLG clients for a fraction of the cost of larger firms and they do so with the sort of white-glove service typically found at larger firms.   At KLG, we handle from acquisitions and sales of single-family homes, individual condominium and cooperative units to hotel, office, shopping center and multi-family residential projects.  Michael and his team also specialize in commercial leasing matters, including both office and shop leasing.   KLG’s office leasing experience ranges from small office leases nationwide for a media company client to the 70,000 square foot national headquarters lease of New York Magazine in Manhattan.   And the residential purchase and sale matters handled by KLG range from studio apartments in Manhattan and Brooklyn to the private residences of internationally-known celebrity clients.  Commercial purchase and sale matters handled by the firm range from a US $2.5 million apartment building in lower Manhattan to a US $115 million hotel project in Manhattan and a US $400 million portfolio of 52 residential apartment buildings in 14 US states.  KLG’s shop leasing experience includes small, individual store leases in Manhattan, the New York flagship store lease for Turkey’s premier society jeweler, a chain of vegetarian restaurants in New York and London owned by an Australia-based client and national retail leasing for one of the largest retail clothing chains in the United States.  Michael will be happy to speak with you about your real estate matters free of charge.  We charge for our services only after we are retained and begin working on your matter, so please feel free to speak with us about your US real estate legal needs.  You can reach Michael at mgreenberg@karalaw.com

Level Group (www.levelgroup.com)

In real estate matters, KLG works closely with a New York-licensed real estate brokerage firm called Level Group.  Level specializes in both residential and commercial brokerage matters for the same sorts of properties – including single family homes, large commercial projects and office and shop leasing – handled by KLG’s real estate department.  Level’s approximately 150 real estate agents are all licensed in New York and have a well-known expertise in the local New York real estate market.  Level’s owners also have deep personal connections within New York City, which they use to identify off-market and other real estate opportunities for the benefit of select clients, including KLG’s law firm clients.  If you would like assistance from a trusted brokerage partner buying, selling or leasing residential or commercial property in New York, we will be happy to introduce you to Level Group.

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KLG AT CONFERENCES

The 29^th ATC (American Turkish Council) Annual Conference on U.S.-Turkish Relations took place on October 17-20, 2010 at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Washington D.C.  This is a very interesting and pivotal time in U.S.-Turkish relations, both politically and economically.  We attended the meetings and events and our presence was well received, both in and beyond DC.

Turkey is a dynamic market to invest in and Turkish enterprises are eager to invest in the U.S.  Today, Turkey stands out as the 6^th largest and the fastest-growing economy in Europe and 16^th largest economy in the world.  During the conference, it was emphasized many times that Turkey is becoming the global finance and energy hub in the region. Attendees learned that “business and investment can become the new and major player in bilateral relations and in smoothing out some of the recurrent political turbulence.”  That requires the participation of the private sector more and more in both countries and integration of these companies with each other.

Turkey holds many opportunities in bilateral business and trade investment for the upcoming 18 to 24 months for energy, real estate, agriculture, and renewable energy.  At KLG on a regular basis, we consult with, guide, and serve as a bridge for Turkish-American joint ventures.

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December 11, 2010, Sueda participated at the 4^th conference on "Civil Society, Youth and Local Government on the Road to EU Membership" in Istanbul organized by the Republic of Turkey- Prime Ministry, Secretariat General for EU Affairs to understand the rapid developments of grassroots efforts both on the NGO and Government level and to join efforts with private enterprises.  Speakers included Egemen Bagis, Minister for EU Affairs and Chief Negotiator, Kadir Topbas, Mayor of Istanbul and President of United Cities and Local Governments.

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December 14, 2010 KLG attended “Building U.S.-Turkish Business Partnerships” Roadshow organized by U.S. Embassy in Turkey, TUSIAD and TUSKON in Istanbul to inform Turkish companies on trade and project finance resources to grow their businesses in order to support the efforts to increase business and trade between the two countries.  KLG continues its business development activities in Turkey.  Please contact us on we can help you to expand your business with the help of OPIC (Overseas Private Investment Corporation), US Ex-Im Bank and USTDA (US Trade and Development Agency) programs.

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December 18, 2010 KLG attended a conference on “Turkish Defense Industry: Past, Present and Future” organized by Bilkent University Alumni Association at the Swiss Hotel in Ankara to introduce KLG to young SMEs in the defense industry sector in Ankara.  A group of SMEs are now flourishing on the defense side sector in Turkey opening doors to mutual relations between US and Turkey and looking for export/import opportunities and joint-venture possibilities.

For more information or to learn more about how we can be a help to you please contact:

Danilo Arsenijevith, Latin American Lawyer at danilo@karalaw.com

or

Sueda Sonmez, Director of Marketing at sueda@karalaw.com

Tel:  +1-212-681-8313

M:+1-917-741-5109 (USA)| +90-536-431-4010 (TR)| +41-79-519-3105 (CH)              

Karaahmet Luz & Greenberg LLP

370 Lexington Avenue

, 24^th Floor, New York, New York 10017

www.karalaw.com