İsmail Turkogullari

Business development (BD) professional with six years of law firm experience in BD, marketing, and communications, currently at Baker McKenzie in Istanbul. Leads BD for the Corporate and M&A practice and works with partners and colleagues across the firm's global network on client development, cross-border pursuits, and cross-selling. Combines relationship and market intelligence with automation and artificial intelligence (AI) to surface opportunities for partners and reduce lawyers' non-billable time.

Senior Business Development Specialist - Baker McKenzie - Istanbul, Türkiye

(2026-07)

• Lead business development for the Corporate and M&A practice and support several other practice groups, covering client development, pitches, rankings, and client programs.
• Map target clients against the firm's existing relationships and experience across practices and offices, identifying warm introduction routes, coverage gaps, and cross-selling opportunities for partners.
• Rebuilt pitch, credential, and rankings workflows with Python automation and generative AI, cutting pitch turnaround by 80% and significantly reducing lawyers' non-billable hours.
• Coordinate cross-practice and cross-border pitches and request for proposal (RFP) responses with lawyers and business teams across Baker McKenzie's global network.
• Support practice leaders' client and prospect reviews, preparing briefings and tracking target clients, opportunities, and follow-up actions.
• Work with relationship partners on key client reviews and client introductions for senior lateral hires.
• Co-manage the firm's legal rankings program across 16 practice areas, coordinating partners and the global directories team; contributed to consecutive tier upgrades and retained top-tier rankings.
• Lead the firm's flagship annual client event (400+ senior guests) and coordinate its client seminar series.

Business Development Specialist - Baker McKenzie - Istanbul, Türkiye

(2024-04 - 2026-07)

Business Development and Communications Specialist - BTS & Partners - Istanbul, Türkiye

(2022-10 - 2024-04)

• Drove the launch of the firm's environmental, social, and governance (ESG) practice, from positioning and client materials to outreach; the practice generated revenue within six months.
• Built master proposal templates for 10+ practice areas, adopted firm-wide, and automated BD reporting with VBA, cutting administrative time by more than 50%.
• Led flagship client events for 200+ and 500+ senior executives.
• Seconded to SpaceX in Hawthorne, California (October to December 2023) as Communication Project Lead for Turkish market entry research and communications planning.

Corporate Communications Specialist - Batu Law & Consulting - Istanbul, Türkiye

(2020-10 - 2022-05)

• Managed digital marketing and thought-leadership content for the managing partner, including 200+ videos, the website, social media, and client newsletters.

Master's degree (thesis track) - Advertising and Publicity - Marmara University (2026)

Bachelor's degree (full scholarship) - Public Relations, Advertising and Applied Communication - Istanbul Medipol University (2021)