The day you say “I know everything now” is the day you are screwed

We had a pleasant conversation with Selçuk Esenyel, Founding Partner of Esenyel&Partners, which is the most engaged firm in the field of maritime law in Türkiye which also operates within the international arena. We asked him about the problems frequently experienced in the field of Maritime Law. Esenyel, who shared his ideas with us with his sincere, open and solution-oriented approach, is one of our lawyers who is well established in his profession and has spread Maritime Law to every aspect of his life. With correspondent lawyers and offices in all port cities and in many countries around the world, Esenyel&Partners Attorneys and Consultancy's employs more than 100 employees who work non-stop with the motto “The day you say ‘I know everything’ is the day you are screwed”.

Born in Ankara in 1983, Selçuk Esenyel, whose family origin is from Çorum, had to continue his education in many cities and countries as the son of a military father. After completing his university education in Turkey, Esenyel completed his master's degree in England and then joined the working life in England. Stating that he has been in this sector for about 18 years, Esenyel said, “I am an amateur fisherman however, I cannot spare as much time for myself as I did previously because I work very hard. But this conflict allowed my job and my sector to be my passion. The sea is in every aspect of my life and gives me a lot of pleasure.”

Esenyel, who stepped into business life in the last two years of his education, while still attending law school, said, “It was during these periods that I realized that lawyers should specialize, as in some other professions. I believe that we perform a very sacred duty. In this sense, I think that we should do our job competently and properly. In this respect, I have adopted the principle of specializing in a field personally but extended our services by adding specialists lawyers into the team. After completing my master's degree in Maritime and Commercial Law, I started to work and later I founded Esenyel & Partners in 2010. Currently, we provide services to this sector with more than 100 employees and try to respond to the needs of the sector. Our team consists of young, dynamic and most importantly sea-loving professionals like me.”

Maritime legislation in the world and in Turkiye

Esenyel evaluated how adequate and up-to-date the regulations on maritime law in our country are compared to the international legislation and said, “With the Turkish Commercial Code that entered into force in 2012, most, if not all, of the international legislation has entered into our laws and started to be implemented. With our new Code, many of the problems we experienced before 2012 have been eliminated.

What are the main problems of shipping community

Esenyel said, “I can easily say that shipping community faces a lot of problems these days due to ongoing conflicts between Ukraine- Russia and now in Israel”. Black Sea trade is highly affected due to sanctions and long waiting times. We urge all shipping community about the sanctions and do a proper compliance check. We had to establish a team who is only working on sanction issues and doing checks for our Clients. The sanction issue is very important especially in terms of getting on the sdn lists and claims are rejected by the respective insurers.

We also note that the payment system is also another problem since the banks are very reluctant to make payments for any type of shipping activity. There is no flexibility at all and we are always in touch with the banks for improving the services. I hope the conflicts will come to an end soon and shipping community will have a breath soon. As our founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk said: “Peace at home, peace in the World”.

 “The education provided at universities is not good enough”

Esenyel, who evaluated the competence of young lawyers graduating from universities in these areas, said, “This is a very important issue that I emphasize, since maritime is an international field, it is important to follow the current legislation very well and to know the principles of International Laws. First of all, our merchants need to accept preventive law and introduce it into their lives. If counseling is taken at the beginning, the likelihood of problems is always lower. Knowing the legislation is a must. I have been in this profession for a long time, but I still read domestic and foreign court decisions on a daily basis. There is no such thing as completion of development in our business. The day you say you know everything is the day you are finished. The education given at universities is of course not enough. Very basic concepts are taught. However, unfortunately, there is a problem of private universities in our country. Especially our private universities convince both parents and students that as soon as they graduate from school, they are equipped like an expert and can find a job in an expert staff. However, the situation emerges when young friends face the reality. Generation Z is quite impatient. They don't have an agenda like learning a job and gaining experience. All their goals are unfortunately how to make money earlier and faster. In addition, maritime is an international business and foreign language is a must.

“When business is good, lawsuits decrease”

I also wish our government would declare a region or an island as a duty-free area and open a new registry for the establishment of offshore companies, banking services, transit trade and the registration of boats and vessels belonging to foreigners. With such a project, I think we can bring foreign investors to our country as in Dubai, Singapore or the British Isles so that we can have build a new business center.

Commenting on the issues on which maritime law disputes are dominantly focused in Türkiye, Esenyel said, “As a matter of fact, when the markets are good, the number of lawsuits decreases and we deal more with sudden developments. Indeed, the worst settlement is better than the best lawsuit. Believe me, it is also better for lawyers. Because both the clients and us are under more stress during the trial process. It is generally thought that lawyers are the ones who create animosities, but this is not the case. I have seen an increase in the number of ship fearer cases recently. I think times are changing and the perspectives of seafarers are also changing. In this regard, we need radical changes in both the education system and the legislation.” 

I wish all shipping community fair winds and calm seas.