{"id":284738,"date":"2026-04-06T05:44:55","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T05:44:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/halkweb.com.tr\/?p=284738"},"modified":"2026-04-06T05:44:55","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T05:44:55","slug":"the-over-expansion-of-a-profession-of-lawyers-in-turkey-legal-economics-and-ethical-tension","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/halkweb.com.tr\/en\/the-over-expansion-of-a-profession-of-lawyers-in-turkey-legal-economics-and-ethical-tension\/","title":{"rendered":"Lawyering; Overextension of a Profession: Legal Economy and Ethical Tension in Turkey"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Legal debates in Turkey often start from the wrong place. They start with norms; the constitution, the law, high judicial decisions... However, what we call law is something that <strong>is a human organization<\/strong>. Texts do nothing on their own; there is a profession that interprets, applies and makes sense of them. So if you want to understand the real capacity of law in a country, you need to look not at the texts but at the structure that carries those texts.<\/p>\n<p>In Turkey, this structure has undergone a quiet but profound transformation in recent years. The most visible face of this transformation is quantitative growth. The number of lawyers has increased, bar associations have grown, law faculties have multiplied. At first glance, this expansion can be read as the strengthening of the law. Because the reflex of the modern mind is: multiplicity = capacity. However, in a quality-based field like law, this reflex is often misleading.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Size of Istanbul: Power or Density?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The most concentrated structure of the legal profession in Turkey<br \/>\n<strong>Istanbul Bar Association<\/strong>\u2019is.<\/p>\n<p>On the surface, this building, where tens of thousands of lawyers gather under a single professional organization, presents an impressive scale. Hence the expression \u201cone of the largest bar associations in the world\u201d. But the question of what this size represents is not often asked.<\/p>\n<p>The size of a professional organization can indicate two different things:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Either a strong economic and institutional depth<\/li>\n<li>Or an uncontrolled buildup<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The situation in Turkey is closer to the latter.<\/p>\n<p>Because this size is not supported by an equally expanded legal market. In other words, the number increases, but the volume of work, specialization and institutionalization to carry this number do not increase at the same pace. In this case, growth does not produce strength; <strong>generates pressure<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Comparison with World Cities: Same Scale, Different System<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It is not possible to understand this picture without making comparisons.<\/p>\n<p>Paris-based<br \/>\n<strong>Paris Bar (Ordre des avocats de Paris)<\/strong>,<br \/>\nworks with approximately 30-35 thousand lawyers. This number is lower than in Istanbul. However, this difference does not mean that Paris is \u201cweaker\u201d. On the contrary, the legal market in Paris is more balanced, more specialized and generates higher added value.<\/p>\n<p>The legal system in London,<br \/>\n<strong>Law Society of England and Wales<\/strong><br \/>\nand barrister structure. This division is not only an occupational classification, but also a mechanism of division of labor and specialization. In New York, although the number of lawyers is much higher, this concentration is distributed in a fragmented system at the city, state and federal levels.<\/p>\n<p>These cities have this in common:<br \/>\n<strong>the number is carried by the system.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In Turkey, most of the time the system tries to carry the number.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Same Number, Different Meaning<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This is where the critical distinction emerges:<\/p>\n<p>Same number of lawyers,<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>In London \u2192 generates specialization and global impact<\/li>\n<li>In Paris \u2192 produces a balanced and high quality service<\/li>\n<li>In Istanbul \u2192 generates intense competition and fragmented market<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>So it's not about the number; it's about the number <strong>is the economic and institutional context<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Since this context is weak in Turkey, an increase in numbers has the following consequences:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>More competition for the same business<\/li>\n<li>Falling revenues<\/li>\n<li>Growing intra-professional quality differences<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>This process creates a slow but constant erosion.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Density Problem Geographical Imbalance<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The problem is not just the number, but the distribution.<\/p>\n<p>In Turkey, the majority of lawyers are concentrated in certain cities. This situation produces two opposite results at the same time:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Overcrowding in big cities<\/li>\n<li>Lack of access in small cities<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>That is, there is both redundancy and insufficiency within the same system.<\/p>\n<p>This is not a planned occupational structure,<br \/>\n<strong>is indicative of a spontaneously growing space.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Initial Diagnosis<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>When all these data are brought together, the result is clear:<\/p>\n<p>The legal profession is not growing in Turkey.<br \/>\n<strong>It is expanding.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>And this expansion:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>not planned<\/li>\n<li>not balanced<\/li>\n<li>not sustainable<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>So what you get is not an increase in power,<br \/>\n<strong>is an accumulated structural tension.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In the first section, we discussed the urban agglomeration dimension of the issue. However, in order to understand this picture correctly, it is necessary to enlarge the scale. Because the true quality of a profession is not only determined by concentration in certain centers, <strong>distribution across the country and its ratio to the population<\/strong> understandable.<\/p>\n<p>Today, there are approximately 190 to 200 thousand lawyers in Turkey. When this number is considered together with the population of 85 million, it means that there are approximately 220-235 lawyers for every 100,000 people. At a superficial glance, this ratio may seem \u201creasonable\u201d. Some comparisons may even suggest that Turkey is not at an extreme point in this respect.<\/p>\n<p>However, in a qualification-based profession such as law, to read the number in this way is to misunderstand the issue.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Turkey vs World: Number or Structure?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The number of lawyers in the United States exceeds 1.3 million. This is several times the number in Turkey. The total number of lawyers in the UK is also quite high. Germany is close to Turkey, while France has a lower concentration.<\/p>\n<p>This data is usually interpreted as follows:<br \/>\n\u201cTurkey is actually not very high.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But this interpretation is incomplete.<\/p>\n<p>Because the same number is part of completely different systems in different countries.<\/p>\n<p>High number of lawyers in the US:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>huge economic volume<\/li>\n<li>international trade<\/li>\n<li>technology and finance law<\/li>\n<li>global arbitration<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>and so on.<\/p>\n<p>Law in England:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>integrated with the financial system<\/li>\n<li>is intertwined with international companies<\/li>\n<li>produces services on a global scale<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In Germany and France:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>the training process is more controlled<\/li>\n<li>entry into the profession is more filtered<\/li>\n<li>number is more in line with need<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>So the number of lawyers in these countries,<br \/>\n<strong>is shaped by demand.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Turkey's Difference: Occupation Inflated by Supply<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In Turkey, the picture is reversed.<\/p>\n<p>It is the main determinant of the number of lawyers:<\/p>\n<p>\ud83d\udc49 not a strong legal market<br \/>\n\ud83d\udc49 <strong>the education system and the production of graduates<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I mean profession:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>does not grow as much as needed<\/li>\n<li>grows as big as it can be produced<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>This is a critical breaking point.<\/p>\n<p>Because, as in any area where supply exceeds demand, the system loses its balance.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Real Difference: Structure and Depth<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The difference between Turkey and other countries is not numbers,<br \/>\n<strong>is depth.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In developed legal systems:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>there is specialization<\/li>\n<li>there is institutionalization<\/li>\n<li>business volume is wide<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In Turkey:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>general advocacy is common<\/li>\n<li>specialization is limited<\/li>\n<li>the market is narrow and fragmented<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>So the same number of lawyers:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>while producing value in other countries<\/li>\n<li>Most of the time in Turkey <strong>generates competition<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Quantity Fetishism<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Turkey's chronic reflex comes into play here too:<\/p>\n<p>If it is many, it is strong.<\/p>\n<p>But in law this reflex does not work.<\/p>\n<p>Because law:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>not by number<\/li>\n<li><strong>works with quality and structure<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Unless the system gets stronger as the number increases,<br \/>\nthat increase is not actually progress,<br \/>\n<strong>is an accumulation of burden.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Silent Segregation within the Profession<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This is the most important consequence of unbalanced growth:<\/p>\n<p>\ud83d\udc49 is an invisible segregation within the profession<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A well-educated, powerful class<\/li>\n<li>A large mass entering the profession with a weak background<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>These two groups carry the same title,<br \/>\nbut not the same profession.<\/p>\n<p>This situation:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>creates intra-professional tension<\/li>\n<li>undermines external trust<\/li>\n<li>distorts the perception of standard<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>At this point, the second diagnosis becomes clear:<\/p>\n<p>Not because there are \u201ctoo many\u201d lawyers in Turkey,<br \/>\n<strong>problematic because it is the result of a wrong production model.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It's not the number-<br \/>\n<strong>how the number is generated and where it is placed.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The quality of a profession is determined by the quality of the gateway to that profession. If this door is widened but the structure inside is not strengthened at the same pace, the result is not due to individual inadequacies, but directly to the system itself. When the current outlook of the legal profession in Turkey is evaluated from this perspective, it becomes inevitable to place law faculties at the center of the discussion.<\/p>\n<p>In the last two decades, the number of law faculties has increased rapidly and largely unplanned. This increase can be read in conjunction with the policy of expanding higher education; however, in a field like law, which is directly related to the public order, this expansion is not only a matter of education. It is also the production model of the profession. Because each new faculty directly produces the number of future lawyers, not just students.<\/p>\n<p>Today, many law faculties provide education without sufficient academic staff, with limited practice opportunities and high quotas. While this sustains quantitative growth, it lowers the qualitative standard. Students are exposed to intensive theoretical knowledge, but graduate without sufficient practical knowledge on how to use this knowledge.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Faculties of Law: Academy or Factory?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>At this point, the function of law faculties should be discussed. An academic institution produces knowledge, develops critical thinking and brings qualified individuals to the profession. However, the current structure has gone beyond this function in many places and turned into a production line. The number of graduates increases, but there is no systematic planning on how this increase will reflect on the profession.<\/p>\n<p>This weakens the link between education and profession. This is because education is shaped not according to the needs of the profession, but according to its own dynamics of expansion.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Dean Issue: A System Indicator<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The fact that the deans of some law faculties do not have a legal background is a symbolic but important indicator of this structure. This is not only an administrative preference. The management of a discipline from outside its field raises questions about its internal coherence and academic seriousness.<\/p>\n<p>Just as it is considered natural for a medical school to be run by a physician and engineering by an engineer, it is equally questionable for a law school to be shaped by a non-lawyer administration. This reflects the profession's view of itself.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Inflated Quotas<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The most obvious and measurable dimension of the problem is quota policies. While the number of students increases every year and the number of graduates keeps rising, there is no balance on how these graduates will be positioned within the profession.<\/p>\n<p>This produces a simple economic result: supply increases, demand does not grow at the same pace and competition intensifies. In the legal field, however, this does not only create economic pressure; it also shatters the professional standard.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Real Gap in Education<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The main problem of legal education is the quality of knowledge rather than the existence of knowledge. Students learn the legislation, but have difficulty in developing legal thinking skills. However, the essence of the profession is not to know the text of the law, but to interpret it, evaluate it in context and apply it to concrete cases.<\/p>\n<p>The lack of this skill creates a serious gap between graduation and professional competence. This gap becomes more visible in the first years of professional life and is often bridged by individual effort.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Structural Segregation within the Profession<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This education model produces a two-tiered structure within the profession. On the one hand, a segment with a strong academic background and the opportunity to develop themselves; on the other hand, a large mass of people who enter the profession with basic equipment deficiencies.<\/p>\n<p>This distinction is not a natural difference of specialization. It is the result of the imbalance of the production process. The presence of individuals with different capacities under the same title obscures the standard within the profession and leads to a lack of trust from the outside.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Third Diagnosis<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>At this point the third diagnosis becomes clear:<\/p>\n<p>Law faculties in Turkey have ceased to be institutions that are shaped according to the needs of the profession; they have turned into a structure that grows within itself but cannot balance this growth with quality.<\/p>\n<p>Without changing this structure, it is not possible to eliminate the problems seen in other areas of the profession. Because the profession constantly reproduces itself through this education system.<\/p>\n<p>First we discussed the concentration, then the distribution on a national scale, and then the education system that produces this structure. At this point, the last link of the discussion is how all these elements translate into practice in the field. Because the true character of a profession emerges not in theoretical frameworks, but in daily practice. Today, the legal profession in Turkey has not only grown but also changed its behavior.<\/p>\n<p>This change manifests itself in recurring patterns rather than singular events. The emergence of similar reflexes in different areas indicates that this is a systemic outcome rather than individual preferences.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Divorce Litigation: Law or Emotional Warfare?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Family law is one of the most prominent areas of this transformation. Divorce cases inherently involve emotional intensity; however, it is noteworthy that this intensity gradually turns into a strategic element. The dispute between the parties often goes beyond legal boundaries, and the most intimate elements of private life become the center of the case.<\/p>\n<p>At this point, the law may move away from being a means of resolving the conflict and turn into a ground that deepens the conflict from time to time. The way the process is managed causes the case to move beyond its legal nature into an area of psychological and social struggle.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Social Media: Evidence or Hunting Ground?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The digital sphere is one of the most rapidly changing areas of legal practice. Social media posts constantly redefine the boundary between freedom of expression and personal rights. Monitoring violations of rights in this field is a natural part of the legal order.<\/p>\n<p>However, the systematic scanning of content, the decontextualization of certain expressions and the transformation of this practice into a repetitive pattern blurs the line between the protective function of law and its capacity to generate opportunities. The issue here is not individual cases, but the way these cases are produced.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Defamation Lawsuits: Protection or Revenue Model?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Defamation cases are at the center of this transformation. On the one hand, they provide an important mechanism that protects the dignity of the individual; on the other hand, they have become a field that can be carried out through standardized processes.<\/p>\n<p>While this increases the accessibility of law, it also enables the production of files that proceed within certain patterns. What is critical at this point is how the line between the protection of law and the instrumentalization of law is maintained.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Highway Tolls: Delay, Magnify, Collect<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The tension between the technical accuracy of the law and its social perception is evident in the way small debts grow over time with interest and costs and become the subject of prosecution. The process may comply with the law, but the outcome raises the question of what the purpose of the law is.<\/p>\n<p>Such practices show that law is not only a normative system, but also functions as an economic instrument.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Insurance Litigation: File or Portfolio?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Insurance and compensation litigation are areas where a certain standardization has emerged in modern legal practice. As specialization increases in these areas, it is noteworthy that the processes proceed in certain patterns.<\/p>\n<p>While this can lead to efficiency, it can also lead to the individual characteristics of the cases taking a back seat. The legal process tends to become a systematic workflow rather than a single dispute.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Attorney Fees: Right or Controversy?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>One of the most sensitive aspects of the relationship between the profession and society is the attorney's fee. This fee is the compensation for the lawyer's labor, but it also directly affects the client's trust in the justice system.<\/p>\n<p>Income imbalances and different practices within the profession lead to intensified debates in this field. These debates are not only economic, but also about the ethical boundaries of the profession.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Profession Caught Between Ethics and the Market<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>When all these examples are evaluated together, the picture that emerges is that the profession is completely ethical; ;<\/p>\n<p><strong>How Can This System Change?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>At this point, the solution is not to target individual behaviors. Because the problem is structural, not individual.<\/p>\n<p>Reorganizing the quotas of law faculties according to professional needs, auditing the quality of education with concrete criteria and making the admission process to the profession more qualified are the basic steps of this transformation.<\/p>\n<p>Encouraging specialization can change the nature of competition within the profession. The institutional dimension of this process is the transformation of bar associations from merely reactive structures into institutions that generate data and develop policies for the future of the profession.<\/p>\n<p>The situation facing the legal profession in Turkey is not a problem that can be explained under a single heading. It is a systemic issue in which quantitative growth, educational structure, economic conditions and professional practices are intertwined.<\/p>\n<p>Without changing this system, it is not possible to expect a permanent improvement in the quality of the profession. Because law is not only composed of written rules; it exists through the structure of the profession that carries those rules.<\/p>\n<p>And if that structure is out of balance,<br \/>\nThe law itself inevitably loses its direction.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Without changing this system, it is not possible to expect a permanent improvement in the quality of the profession. Because law is not only composed of written rules; it exists through the structure of the profession that carries those rules.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":284740,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[286],"tags":[302],"class_list":{"0":"post-284738","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-yazarlar","8":"tag-manet"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/halkweb.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284738","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/halkweb.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/halkweb.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/halkweb.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/halkweb.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=284738"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/halkweb.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284738\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":284741,"href":"https:\/\/halkweb.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284738\/revisions\/284741"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/halkweb.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/284740"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/halkweb.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=284738"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/halkweb.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=284738"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/halkweb.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=284738"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}