After completing his bachelor’s (degree) program at Istanbul University, Faculty of Law in 1986, Budak started to work as a research assistant in the department of Civil Procedure - Execution and Bankruptcy Law of Istanbul University, Faculty of Law.
He completed two separate master studies before London University in 1990 and before Istanbul University in 1991. He received ph. D. in law with extraordinary degree from the Law Faculty of the University of Bremen with a thesis titled "Making Foreign People Pay - Law and Practice of Cross-Border Debt Collection with Special Reference to German, English and Turkish Law". This doctoral thesis was awarded at the University of Bremen as the best thesis written in the field of Social Sciences in 1997. Between 2000 and 2003, he worked as a lecturer at the Koç University, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences.
He became associate professor in 2004 with his work titled "The Protection of the Rights of Third Parties in Civil Procedure Law" and in 2008, he received his professorship title with his work on "Foreclosure of Mortgage". He is currently an active faculty member of the Yeditepe University, Faculty of Law, Civil Procedure and Execution-Bankruptcy Law Department. Professor Ali Cem Budak has dozens of scientific articles published in various law journals.