Dr Sönmezocak was born in Istanbul in 1991. She graduated from the Faculty of Law at Kadir Has University with honours in 2014. She earned her master’s degree in law (LLM) from the International Human Rights Law programme at Lund University on a Swedish government scholarship and her PhD in Public Law at Koç University. Among her research interests are theories of law, philosophy of law, human rights law, political philosophy and gender studies. Dr Sönmezocak is a supervisor at the Bahçeşehir University Gender and Law Clinic, which was established in 2020 and is the only law clinic specialising in gender and the law in Turkey.
In addition to her academic career, Dr. Sönmezocak has worked on voluntary and professional bases in civil society for more than 15 years, especially in the fields of women’s rights and LGBTI+ rights. She is currently the advocacy officer for the Women for Women’s Rights Association. She is a practising attorney at law and a member of the Istanbul Bar Association.