Erol Gökhan Tolay is the Director of the Writing Center for International Programs and Professor of Practice at Temple University Beasley School of Law. He teaches Legal Research and Writing, Introduction to the American Legal System, and Introduction to Transactional Skills.
Professor Tolay’s scholarship is deeply informed by his experience as an international practitioner and educator. His research focuses on the challenges foreign-trained lawyers face in transitioning to American common law practice, particularly the ways legal reasoning, professional identity, and writing conventions must be reconstructed rather than merely translated. He also explores how American legal and pedagogical frameworks can empower practitioners to navigate a globalized legal landscape and enhance their effectiveness within their own legal traditions.
Before joining the full-time faculty, Professor Tolay served as an adjunct professor at Temple Law and at Penn State Harrisburg’s School of Public Affairs, where he taught Constitutional Law, Civil Liberties, International Law, and American Judicial Behavior. He also maintained a law practice in New York, advising domestic and international clients on business transactions, mergers and acquisitions, regulatory compliance, and business immigration.
He earned his S.J.D. with honors from Temple University Beasley School of Law. His dissertation, Goodwill Indemnity in Franchising: The European Goodwill Recoupment Doctrine as a Framework for American Franchise Relationships, draws on European commercial agency law to propose a comparative solution to franchisee goodwill expropriation under American law. Professor Tolay also holds an LL.M. summa cum laude from the University of Münster (Germany), an LL.M. from Temple Law, and an LL.B. from Gazi University (Turkey).