Faculty of Law 2010 alumna Elif Gökşen has received the International Bar Association’s Outstanding Young Lawyer Award for 2019. Sponsored by LexisNexis, the award is presented annually to a young lawyer “who has shown excellence in their work and demonstrated an extraordinary commitment to professional and ethical standards.”
“Through her work,” declared the IBA in announcing the award, “Ms. Gökşen aims to improve access to justice and act as a voice for individuals who have been mistreated, marginalized or excluded.” The award was presented to her on September 26 at the IBA’s annual conference, held this year in Seoul, South Korea.
Ms. Gökşen holds two LLM degrees, one from the London School of Economics and Political Science and the other from Galatasaray University. Currently a PhD candidate at the Ankara University Faculty of Law, she conducted research at Columbia Law School as a Fulbright fellow during the 2018–2019 academic year. Ms. Gökşen has been working for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees since 2014 and will continue her career as a visiting professional in the Prosecution Division of the Office of the Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court.
The IBA, which describes itself as “the global voice of the legal profession,” is an organization whose membership comprises bar associations, law societies and individual legal practitioners from around the world.