Biography

Mehmet Gün is the Founder and Chairman of the politically neutral think-tank Better Justice Association and the Founder of one of Turkey’s most prestigious and successful law firms Gün + Partners.

Mehmet is based in Istanbul and is an active member of several professional associations. He is the Founder and Chairman of the Istanbul Arbitration Association, the Vice President of the Turkish Enterprise and Business Confederation (TÜRKONFED), and a Disciplinary Committee member of the TÜSİAD (the Turkish Business and Industry Association).

In a professional career of over 42 years, Mehmet Gün has developed deep legal expertise, founded Gün + Partners, now recognised as one of Turkey’s top legal practices, and made an important contribution to the creation of modern Turkish IP laws and The IAM Strategy 300 lists him among the global pioneers in the industry. Mehmet has an impressive professional track record; Legal500, Chambers and Partners and Euromoney rank him among the most influential lawyers in Turkey. Gün + Partners has won numerous international awards, including being named National Firm of the Year by both The Lawyer and Who’s Who Legal.

Mehmet is determined to give back to the country that has given him so much and he has written a number of books and articles outlining his experiences and insights to help Turkey develop an internationally recognised system of law. In recent years he has initiated a national and international conversation in Turkey around reforming the Turkish judiciary to strengthen and improve the rule of law and democracy in Turkey, and in turn help achieve sustainable economic growth.

Mehmet drafted a policy paper titled “Call for Quality Judicial Services and Elements of Quality” a description of the quality and the determinants of quality in judicial services. The report was adopted and published by TÜSİAD (the Turkish Industry and Business Association) in 2014 and introduced to Anatolian business world by jointly organized events by TÜSİAD, TÜRKONFED and the Better Justice Association and has been widely accepted by the business world.

Mehmet’s recent books include his autobiography From the Steppes of Anatolia to the World of Global Law, as well as Unconstitutionality of the Privileged Protection Afforded to the Community of Experts, and Turkey’s Middle Democracy Issues and How to Solve Them. TÜRKONFED, the Turkish Enterprise and Business Confederation, adopted the executive summary of the book “Turkey’s Middle Democracy” as a policy document. Following this, the Better Justice Association and TÜRKONFED shared their solutions with the Anatolian business and legal world in 25 jointly organised Structural Reform conferences and webinars. The book and the ideas and proposals contained therein were greatly appreciated and accepted. More recently, the BJA and the Dünya newspaper (Türkiye’s FT) have organised dozens of gatherings discussing the Economy & Rule of Law, connecting with local businesspeople and jurists to discuss the BJA’s reform solutions. The ideas and proposals contained therein were greatly appreciated and accepted, making this a 3rd time that Mehmet toured the Anatolian cities.

General Assembly of the Better Justice Association assigned the Board of Directors the task to prepare proposals for the new constitution on issues that concerned the associations’ objectives. Among the proposals the members have agreed upon, the most comprehensive one is the proposal to establish a Supreme Authority of Justice authored by the Chairman Mehmet Gün. The proposal, which was published in the second half of 2017 and presented to TESEV (Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation) members on November 15, 2017, and to the Association for Liberal Thinking on November 2, 2019, was perceived positively by the public. In 2021, Mehmet and colleagues at the Better Justice Association published Turkish Judicial Reform A-Z which seeks to reimagine the judiciary as a civic institution whose core focus is running a high-quality public service. Though the book focussed on issues in Turkey, it is hoped that the model proposed can be used worldwide to help increase public trust in the judiciary, protect the rule of law and help many more countries in the EU and wider international community achieve UN Sustainable Development Goal 16. 

Mehmet has been delighted with the initial positive reaction to the proposals, including supportive comments from leading global practitioners and academics including from Sir William Blair QC (Former Judge in Charge of the Commercial Court), Professor Tom Ginsburg (University of Chicago Law School) and Professor Cheryl Thomas (UCL Judicial Institute), Dr. David Kosař- Head of the Judicial Studies Institute and Associate Professor of Constitutional Law at the Faculty of Law at Masaryk University, Professor Zoltán Fleck – Professor of Law and Sociology at the Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE) of Budapest.

On 23 May 2023, The Better Justice Association and Mehmet Gün attended a roundtable discussions at the House of Lords in London hosted by Lord Iain McNicol and global experts from prestigious organisations including the International Bar Association, the Law Society of England and Wales, and the UCL Judicial Institute, came to hear the BJA’s President Mehmet Gün and a team of BJA researchers outline the judicial reform proposals which were published in the BJA’s acclaimed book “Turkish Judicial Reform A-Z”. While they were in London, the BJA also met His Excellency Ambassador Osman Koray Ertaş at the Turkish Embassy in the UK.

On 6 June 2023, Mehmet Gün and the BJA delegation travelled to Belgium. After being hosted by their Excellencies Ambassador Faruk Kaymakci (Turkey’s Permanent Delegation to the EU) and Ambassador Bekir Uysal (Belgium) the group met with senior European officials including Nacho Sanchez Amor MEP (EU Rapporteur on Turkey), Bernard Brunet (EU Commission) and Dr Ferdinand Kopp (EEAS Turkey Desk Officer). That evening, the BJA hosted a roundtable discussion with key European thought leaders including representatives from the Brussels School of Governance, the European Policy Centre (EPC), and the European Neighbourhood Council (ENC).

The BJA and Mehmet Gün work to bring together individuals, institutions, and organisations that are related to the judiciary and society on common ground, to reach social consensus and agreement on ideas and suggestions, and to implement any agreed proposals. The aim is to improve the rule of law in Turkey by developing universally acknowledged solutions to local and international problems of the judiciary.

Over the last two years the BJA has hosted a webinar series to raise international awareness around some of the problems and solutions identified in “Turkish Judicial Reform A-Z”.