Muhammet Özekes

Att. Prof. Dr. Muhammet Özekes graduated from the Dokuz Eylül University Faculty of Law in 1989 and became a research assistant in the Department of Civil Procedure and Enforcement & Bankruptcy Law at the same faculty. Having begun his legal traineeship at the Izmir Bar in 1989, he has been registered with the Izmir Bar since 1990 and remains an attorney registered there.

In 1993 Özekes completed his master's degree with a thesis on "Principal Intervention in Civil Procedure Law" and then began doctoral studies in private law. Between September 1995 and April 1997 he stayed in Germany on a scholarship from the University of Münster (Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität) to conduct research for his doctoral thesis, and in 1998 he was awarded the title of Doctor of Private Law upon the successful defence of his doctoral thesis on "Precautionary Attachment in Enforcement and Bankruptcy Law". After his doctorate he was appointed Assistant Professor; in 1999, with a research grant from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), he began his habilitation thesis in Germany and, in 2004, became an Associate Professor with his habilitation work titled "The Right to Be Heard in Civil Procedure Law" and his other studies. In 2009, alongside his body of work, he was appointed Professor on the basis of a submission thesis on "Fundamental Rights and Principles in Enforcement Law".

Att. Prof. Dr. Özekes has taught courses and provided academic supervision at various faculties, above all at the Dokuz Eylül University Faculty of Law where he holds his post. He has also served as chair and member of various legislative expert commissions of the Ministry of Justice. Foremost among these roles are: the Draft Code of Civil Procedure (HMK); the Draft Law on Alternative Dispute Resolution; the Draft Notary Public Law; the Draft Law on the Establishment, Duties and Powers of the Civil Courts of First Instance and the Regional Courts of Appeal; the Regulation on the Enforcement and Bankruptcy Law; the Ministry of Justice Working Group for Preparing the Training Manual on the Courts of Appeal; the Working Group for Harmonising the Enforcement and Bankruptcy Law with the practices of EU Member States and for Resolving the Problems Experienced in Enforcement and Bankruptcy Offices; the Working Group on the Establishment of the Istanbul International Arbitration Centre; the Administrative Procedure Law and the appellate remedy in administrative justice; the preparation of the regulations and tariffs relating to the HMK; the Draft Enforcement and Bankruptcy Law (İİK); the Legal Education Working Group; and membership of the Labour Courts Law Commission, as well as chairing the meetings of the Ministry of Justice Training Activity Group for the Civil Judges of the Courts of Appeal, chairing the meetings of the Ministry of Justice train-the-trainer programme on appellate civil procedure for civil judges, chairing the Commission for the Draft Amendment to the Notification Law, chairing the Commission for Preparing the Regulation on the Notification Law, and chairing the Commission for the Draft Attorneys' Act. He has also taken part in the Union of Turkish Bar Associations' (TBB) work on the attorneys' law and on legal education. Özekes has held managerial positions in various academic and administrative roles both within and outside his institution, served as a founding member of the organising committee of the Turkish Association of Civil Procedure and Enforcement & Bankruptcy Law Scholars (MİHBİR), and was a member of the Organising Committee of the 15th World Congress of Procedural Law held in Istanbul.

Att. Prof. Dr. Özekes has also taken part in the training activities of the Justice Academy of Türkiye, the Union of Turkish Bar Associations and various bar associations. He has served as a director or commission member in a number of national and international projects, including, in particular, projects relating to mediation, arbitration, court management, time management in the judiciary, judicial independence, performance measurement in the judiciary, legal ethics and legal education.

Özekes has written, alone or together with other authors, 20 books and around 70 periodical publications, as well as papers presented at numerous conferences, congresses and symposia. He has supervised around ten doctoral theses and more than twenty master's theses. He also serves on the advisory or editorial boards of several law journals. In addition to these publications, he has written a non-legal book titled "A Story for Ten Poems" (On Şiire Bir Hikâye).

Although Özekes's main fields of work are civil procedure and enforcement & bankruptcy law, his areas of work also include the law of the legal profession, notary law, the law on service of process, labour litigation law, alternative dispute resolution and arbitration, law and ethics, and legal education.

Att. Prof. Dr. M. Özekes is married to Att. Özlem Özekes and is the father of two daughters.