Overview
As a member of the firm’s International Trade and Customs Specialty Team, Elif supports the firm’s attorneys on customs and tariff issues, trade remedy proceedings, including antidumping, countervailing duty, Section 301, and Section 232 matters; customs classification and tariff engineering; country-of-origin determinations; tariff mitigation strategies; and Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) classification issues.
Before assuming her Law Clerk role at Butzel, Elif served as an International Legal Trainee with the firm’s Corporate and Finance Practice Department. In that role, she supported attorneys advising clients in mergers and acquisitions, international trade and foreign investment matters, corporate transactions, and environmental compliance projects. Her work included drafting corporate documents and ruling requests, conducting legal and regulatory research, assisting with due diligence for cross-border transactions, and analyzing US regulatory and environmental requirements.
Elif brings more than four years of international experience in legal support and policy work involving climate change, sustainable development, corporate environmental compliance, and ocean governance. Prior to joining Butzel, Elif focused on the federal tax treatment of carbon credits and related issues at the intersection of environmental policy and tax law. She also gained academic experience at the University of Eastern Finland, where she contributed to research on climate and environmental governance. As part of her climate and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) work, she tracked Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions of Türkiye’s largest public and private banks, insurance companies, and textile companies, supporting environmental performance assessments and sustainability reporting efforts. Elif’s experience further includes ESG data analysis and impact reporting at CDP (formerly the Carbon Disclosure Project), which operates the world’s largest environmental disclosure system for climate change, water security, and deforestation.
Fluent in Turkish and experienced in multicultural and cross-border settings, Elif contributes an international perspective to the firm’s work on business and regulatory issues with an understanding of differing legal systems, commercial considerations, and compliance expectations.
Elif earned an LL.M. in Environmental Law from The George Washington University Law School.
Primary Practice Areas
Credentials
Education
The George Washington University Law School, LL.M. in Environmental Law, With Honors
Sakarya University Law School, LL.B., With Honors
Admissions
- New York - pending, Fall 2026
Languages
- Turkish
Awards & Recognitions
Awards & Recognitions
The George Washington University Law School - Highest Merit Scholarship Award; Environmental Law Research Scholarship Award; Randolph Shaw Scholarship Award
Impact Hub - Social Impact Award, First Place, October 2021
Sakarya University Law School - Dean’s List, four semesters
Community & Professional
Columbia Law School, Sabin Center for Climate Change Law - Global Network of Peer Reviewers on Climate Litigation, Rapporteur for World Trade Organization Appellate Body
The George Washington University Law School, Graduate Research Assistant to Dean Abate and Professor Cecot
