SAP Promotes Devlet Cagla Nizam to Senior Legal Counsel

SAP, a global leader in enterprise software and cloud solutions, has promoted Devlet Cagla Nizam to the position of Senior Legal Counsel.

Nizam joined SAP in July 2022 as a Legal Counsel for the EMEA South division and her effort, legal expertise, leadership, and communication skills led to her promotion to Senior Legal Counsel within ten months. Prior to joining SAP, Nizam served as an Associate Lawyer at ELIG Gürkaynak Attorneys-at-Law for three years, and BTS & Partners for another three years where she specialized in Technology, Copyright, Contract, E-commerce, Media, and Telecom Law.

Nizam holds a Bachelor of Laws from Galatasaray University and a Master of Laws in Business Law from Istanbul Bilgi University School of Law. She also participated in the Law Summer Institute at Fordham in 2014.

Nizam is fluent in French and English. She has also published several articles on topics such as internet broadcasting, freedom of expression in social media, e-commerce, and information systems of related financial institutions.

What personal and professional skills do you believe are most important for your role at SAP?

During my role in SAP, I believe I became well aware of the skill set which is required to be an efficient in-house legal counsel.  First of all, “communication” is essential in a company which consist of different expertise and technical teams, and has a great number of customers. Additionally, “being flexible and agile” is a must since tech companies, their products and services and applicable laws and regulations evolve each day. Apart from legal side, my role both enables and requires me to approach matters also from business perspective.

In addition to the foregoing, I strongly believe that hard work is always so important!

What are the pros and cons for working for a multijurisdictional environment?

Most of the lawyers and legal counsels hold law degree for a specific jurisdiction. However, nowadays it is frequently seen that lawyers and legal counsels work for multiple jurisdictions.

One might claim that working for other jurisdictions that a legal counsel is not holding a law degree for is challenging. This is true that working for such jurisdictions requires me to study local laws and legal principles, and maybe spend more time and make more research to understand the legal environment better.

However, without any doubt, working in a multijurisdictional environment makes you gain different perspectives and significant knowledge about other jurisdictions. Thus, I am so glad that I have an opportunity to experience different legal environments, approaches, and legal interpretations during my daily routine.

How do you feel about working in a continuously evolving industry?

This is inevitable that tech companies’ products and services evolve and develop every day in line with business and customer needs. Besides, new laws and regulations have being continously introduced and drafted for the products and services of the companies operating in this industry.

Legal counsels of tech companies should continously monitor and chase the legal developments and changes made on the products and services. Accordingly, we should be flexible and agile to reflect and implement such developments in line with applicable laws and regulations.

This is a never ending procedure for a company which chases technological developments and introduces new technologies every day. Indeed, I feel great that working in such a dynamic industry enables me to learn each day and remain up to date.