Congratulations, dear Gülsen, on your impressive 30-year anniversary with activelaw! It's really special that you've been a part of the firm for so long. In today's working world, such consistency is really unusual.
Gülsen: Thank you very much! Yes, it's true. It is actually rare today for someone to stay with one employer for so long. When I started here, I never thought I would stay for 30 years.
How did it come about that you started working for activelaw back then?
Gülsen: That was a happy coincidence. After completing my training as a lawyer and notary specialist, I was a bit unsure how my career should continue. That was 1994, and I didn't really want to work directly. An acquaintance who worked at activelaw — back then still “Rechtsanwälte Klein, Wagenführ & Partner” — talked about me. Shortly afterwards, Eugen Klein, the former law firm owner, called me personally and asked if I would be interested in working for them. After a successful trial, I was immediately offered a job. What was decisive was not what certificates I had, but how I worked.
How was the work for you in the first few years?
Gülsen: It was a very exciting time. Back then, the law firm was much smaller than it is today, and we were still on a completely different level in terms of technology. We worked with large CRT screens and stored our data on floppy disks. We still had to tear apart reminders by hand. But attention was always paid to optimizing processes and leading the law firm towards digitization.
That sounds like an innovative approach. How was this implemented?
Gülsen: Our law firm software was developed together with a programmer. It was one of the first software solutions we used to automate our work. Some may still know the program under the nickname Schipko — “szybko” means “fast” in Polish. The programmer is from Poland. This early automation was really something special, especially at a time when digitization was still in its infancy.
Are there any special moments that you still remember?
Gülsen: Yes, for example, the meeting at which we were told that “the Internet” now exists. It was a novelty for all of us, and at first it was only up to the boss to use the Internet. One time I unplugged the cable that connected us to the Internet by mistake. Apparently, the short-term outage was quite expensive for the law firm... that only happened to me once!
The turn of the millennium was also exciting. We were all afraid that the computers would stop working after 1999. When everything went as usual on our first working day in 2000, we were all given pizza.
I'm sure you've seen many colleagues come and go. How did you experience that?
Gülsen: Oh yes, I saw some of the current partners as trainee lawyers. Many of the current employees did their training with me, and I was actually pretty strict with them. But they always pulled along when I said they should stay longer. I am very close friends with a colleague, she is like a big sister to me! That is absolutely valuable. I always really appreciated the team spirit, even though there were other moments as well. Of course, there are also individual people with whom it is more difficult.
You've also overcome some personal challenges. Would you like to talk about it?
Gülsen: Yes, I'm very open about it. I was absent for a long time once due to my cancer. My mother had breast cancer, and it was clear that at least one of her daughters would also be affected. I was the one. Fortunately, we took regular preventive care so that the cancer could be identified early and treated successfully. After one year, I was healthy again and was happy to be able to return to work.
We are so happy that you are back and healthy.
Finally: What has kept you with activelaw for 30 years?
Gülsen: I always enjoyed coming to work. In the end, it is the friendly colleagues who make me happy to go to work. I always missed them when I was away for a long time. Otherwise I wouldn't have stayed so long.
