The Policyholder Podcast: Presented by Fenchurch Law

S2E1 - Meet The Team: Çağlar Kaçar

• Fenchurch Law • Season 2 • Episode 1

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In the first episode of Season 2, our host Dru Corfield welcomes Çağlar Kaçar, the newest member of the firm and the driving force behind Fenchurch Law’s recently opened Istanbul office. Caglar shares insights into his background in insurance and commercial litigation, life in turkey, and why working exclusively for policyholders aligns with his values. He also talks about the Turkish legal system, his love of family time, music production, and his impressions of London during his recent visit. 

Dru:

Hello and welcome to a new podcast series hosted by Fenchurch Law. The series aims to introduce every member of our offices in a short, informal podcast. Today I'm delighted to be joined by Chala Kachar, who recently opened our office in Turkey, specifically Istanbul. A very warm welcome to the podcast, to Fenchurch Law, and to England, Chala. Hydru. So before we dive into the pod, let's start with some quick fire questions. Are you an early bird or a night owl?

Caglar:

Definitely early bird.

Dru:

What would be your dream travel destination for a holiday? Um Bodrum. Bodrum. Oh, in in Turkey. Is that on the West Coast? No, Aging Coast. We call it. Okay. Oh no. Right, that just demonstrates my poor knowledge of Turkey. I'm going to stop there. What's an item that's always on your desk? Um my legal books.

unknown:

Oh.

Dru:

Cracking answer. And um, would you rather cook at home or eat out? Cook at home. Nice. So um Chalo, very excited to have you on the pod because you're the newest member of our team, and very exciting that we've now opened an office in Turkey. So truthfully, I don't actually know you as well as I'd like. So if we start with a bit of background. So, where did you grow up and um what did you study at university?

Caglar:

I grew up in Izmir on the Asian site of um Turkey. And then I moved to Istanbul. I studied law in Marmor University.

Dru:

And when you do you have to study law to become a sorry, this that's a poorly phrased question. Because in England you can study history and then do a conversion to become a lawyer. Do you have to study law in Turkey to be a lawyer at the undergraduate level? Yes. Okay, so that you don't do conversions. And what made you want to be a lawyer in the first place?

Caglar:

It was a natural part for me. My father was a lawyer. Ah, okay. So I was born into law, we can say. And so I didn't really have second best alternative at that time.

Dru:

So well, we would say that law is the law is the best. I mean you got you got the best one. And obviously, I'm not I don't know much about your sort of career up to this point. So could you um tell us a bit about your career up to now and sort of where you've worked, and I'll I'll ask a follow-up question after that.

Caglar:

I started with Insolville C and commercial litigation in my early career. So actually then I moved to insurance when I started working with Marsh as an in-house counsel. I didn't know you did. Oh okay, cool, cool. So I didn't intend it to be uh insurance lawyer. Um back then I was my intention was only to have an experience in a global company, and it was Marsh, so it it was again natural to me uh in my past that uh I become a full fall into insurance. So how long were you at Marsh? Actually, I first started in Marsh as an intern. It was roughly a year. Um then I go back there and spent like three and a half years, so it's roughly a decent decent amount of time.

Dru:

So that sort of brings us neatly on to Fenchurch Law because obviously, obviously March and Fenchurch Law do lots of things together. So I'm curious, how how did you first hear about Fenchurch Law?

Caglar:

Four years it was a red line for me to not to work with insurers. And last year I wonder whether there is any practicing law firm in the line which I'm tracking at that time. So Fenchurch Law was the only one.

Dru:

Oh, you mean yeah, so you mean acting exclusively for the policyholder and never for the insurer? Yeah. Well, yeah, well, we're glad we found each other. And again, apologies for my sort of lack of knowledge about this, but I know that some I think didn't some people from Fenchurch go to Istanbul? Yes. And so who did you meet in Istanbul and when was that?

Caglar:

Um I first met David and Jonathan when they visited Istanbul. They were very open and thoughtful. Um, the communication was great because we were in the actually uh we we were sharing the same values with them because um they are pro policy holder representatives. I'm also advising insurance brokers only, and um not working with any insurance companies in Turkey, and we spent two days with them um together, one full day with uh brokers, and then we held a seminar for claims professionals. The feedback actually was very incredible from the market. Um they like what we do, um, yeah, and it gave us the confidence to get where we are today.

Dru:

So, did you organize with them before they arrived, or did you sort of meet them by chance when they got to Istanbul? No, no, no. We we we have pre-organized. Yeah, I was gonna say two days of just meeting someone randomly and then doing two days of events would be too good to be true. So I'm gonna confess that I know absolutely nothing about Turkish law. What would you say is something that people should know or maybe misunderstand about law in Turkey? Um it's unpredictable.

Caglar:

Um It's actually a civil law system, so everything is clearly codified, but in practice things go south.

Dru:

Great expression. So almost would you alm would you say there's almost like an inconsistency then in somehow how the law is applied? Exactly. Right. That's what you yeah, it is a very challenging atmosphere. Yeah, I was gonna say not necessarily what you would look for from a legal system. Yeah. Um so okay, we've talked enough, I think, about about law, but very obviously very exciting to that you're now part of Fen Church Law. But perhaps more interestingly, and more on track for the Meet the Team part of the Meet the Team podcast. What what do you enjoy doing outside of work? Do you have many hobbies?

Caglar:

I love spending time with my family, my wife, our six-year-old boy, Dennis. Um we allow playing football chess with him, and and we also have two dogs. Two dogs, yeah, Anna and Ella. And so most of our time out of work is actually um we we spent together. Yeah, I love it. And music is also very big part of my life. Um, I really enjoy using um garage bands. Oh music production, that's awesome. Um on an amateur base. Yeah, but don't expect something from me.

Dru:

No, I used I used to play on garage band, and you can take yeah, you can I I I haven't done this for ages, but you can like m make tracks with and it's like the what you think when you think of music production with the lines on the on the screen. Sorry, I'm describing this to awfully, but you you know what I'm I'm imagining you know what I'm talking about. Okay, cool. Well we'll have to get a sample of something you've made perhaps. Not for the pod, maybe off air. We'll take it off air, Chadler. Um finally, obviously, we've really enjoyed having you in the office uh last week and this week. For the benefit of the tape, Challa came over, spent a um has been spending a fortnight in the London office to get to know everyone. Uh you've been a big hit, obviously. Um, but obviously, you're you've been in London. I don't know how much you've travelled to London before. What have you enjoyed um doing in when you haven't been at work? Have you seen anything that you you know that has stood out?

Caglar:

Um actually um just being in London is very incredible for me. Yeah, every and each time when I was at London. Um because the cities there are many um international cuisines that you can taste. Yes, we have a lot of great foods yes. Um and I'm so into Ramans for so w that we cannot easily find in Istanbul, even in Istanbul. Yeah. So and what I should highlight from my perspective, it's uh it will be related to insurance. Um in doesn't doesn't have to be, but but i i it is um in Istanbul you sometimes have to cross a continent um of course to get to the other side of town. Yes, to make it between your client meetings, yeah. And here actually the whole industry is in the same area, and any of your meetings is just ten minutes walking. Max, max ten minutes. Yeah, it's incredible. Yeah, well it's yeah, it's the pace is amazing here.

Dru:

So it's so interesting. You found being in the city of London, which is so concentrated, yeah, something I mean, yeah. If you had to cross the Bosphorus to get to Basing, that would be quite a lot.

Caglar:

It takes sometimes two hours.

Dru:

Yeah, wow. Well, for the we we think that um you said that you think London's incredible, we think that Istanbul's incredible. Well, DJ Mike's just actually got back. DJ Mike, the silent man who sits across the table in every pub, but he's just got back um I think last night from Istanbul, and so he had an amazing time. Um, Chala, it's this has been great fun. Very much looking forward to going on the Lloyd's tour with you. I think that'll I think that could be a highlight. Um, Chala's coming on a Lloyd's tour uh with some of the office uh in about 40 minutes. So I look forward to that. But Chala, thanks so much for coming on. It's been great to chat and uh yeah, well, welcome to Fen Church Laura, I guess. Thank you, Drew.

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Dru Corfield

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