After completing education courses in Germany, Somyot became a civil servant of Thammasat University, where he served as a public law lecturer until his retirement in 2012.

During his tenure as the President of the Thammasat Law Association, Somyot had for many times launched public campaigns against Thaksin Shinawatra, then Prime Minister, calling for impeachment of Thaksin on account of the series of corruption and conflict of interest scandals.

"Somyot has produced many prominent academic works, all of which could be viewed at the Office of the Libraries, Thammasat University.

Somyot is usually called by his students as "Ong Dam" (องค์ดำ), which means "Black Deity," due to his proficiency and his dark skin.

While Kaewsan Atibodhi, former lecturer at the same faculty, is called "Ong Khao" (องค์ขาว), meaning "White Deity".