Mr. Balkan advises clients across a broad range of industries, including cosmetics, automotive, media and entertainment, construction, FMCG, and tourism. His core areas of practice include competition law, employment law, compliance, corporate and commercial matters, contract law, data protection and privacy law, and M&A.

He has advised on the corporate structuring and incorporation of numerous national and multinational companies, supported clients in their day-to-day corporate affairs, and played an active role in M&A transactions. In parallel, he has consulted and trained multinational companies on establishing competition-law-compliant distribution and commercial structures in Türkiye. As a certified compliance manager, Mr. Balkan also supports corporate compliance teams by managing on-site audits, risk assessments, training programmes, and ongoing compliance processes, with a particular focus on competition law, employment law, HR practices and personal data protection.

In recent years, his practice has increasingly concentrated on competition law and employment law. He is particularly active in advising and training HR teams on competition law compliance in employment practices, including information exchange, hiring restrictions, and wage-related risks. Mr. Balkan regularly supports international companies on Turkish labour law aspects of M&A transactions, reorganisations, and cross-border HR projects, translating global HR strategies into locally compliant and practical solutions. Drawing on his U.S. and Turkish legal education, he is known for his pragmatic and business-oriented approach to complex workforce and compliance challenges.

Mr. Balkan has been an active member of IR Global since 2013. He also dedicates a significant part of his practice to Innangard, supporting global in-house counsel and HR professionals with cross-border employment law expertise. In addition, he is a member of the International Forum of Senior Executive Advisers, reflecting his strong interest in the human dimension of business.