Gönenç Gürkaynak

Senior fellow, Centre for Law, Economics and Society

Gönenç Gürkaynak is the founding partner of ELIG Gürkaynak Attorneys-at-Law, a leading law firm of 95 lawyers based in Istanbul, Turkey. Gönenç graduated from Ankara University, Faculty of Law in 1997 and was called to the Istanbul Bar in 1998. Gönenç received his LL.M. degree from Harvard Law School, and he has received his Doctor of Philosophy in Law (PhD) degree from University College London (UCL) Faculty of Laws. Before founding ELIG Gürkaynak Attorneys-at-Law in 2005, Gönenç worked as an attorney at the Istanbul, New York and Brussels offices of a global law firm for more than eight years. In addition to his membership to the Istanbul Bar since 1998, he was admitted to the American Bar Association in 2002; New York Bar in 2002 (currently non-practising; registered); Brussels Bar in 2003 – 2004 (B List; not maintained); Law Society of England & Wales, 2004 (currently non-practising; registered).

In addition to his continuing private practice as an attorney, primarily through ELIG Gurkaynak Attorneys-at-Law in Istanbul/Turkey, Gönenç is an Honorary Professor of Practice at UCL Faculty of Laws in London. In addition to his academic post at University College London, he also teaches competition law at Bilkent University Faculty of Law in Ankara/Turkey since 2005, and he has taught competition law in more than 10 universities in Turkey, in the EU, in the UK and in the US in the last 18 years.

Gönenç frequently speaks at conferences and symposia on competition law matters. He has four books, and more than 80 academic articles published in refereed international law journals.
Gönenç is also a Member of the Board of Trustees of ClientEarth, one of the largest and most influential international environmental law litigation NGOs, and he is a Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Law, Economics & Society (CLES) at UCL Faculty of Laws in London.