The Bar Association of Sri Lanka (shortened to BASL) is the

Bar Association A bar association is a professional association of lawyers as generally organized in countries following the Anglo-American types of jurisprudence. The word bar is derived from the old English/European custom of using a physical railing to separ ...

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

. The Institute was established in 1974, amalgamating the ''Bar Council of Sri Lanka'' which represented the

Advocates An advocate is a professional in the field of law. Different countries' legal systems use the term with somewhat differing meanings. The broad equivalent in many English law–based jurisdictions could be a barrister or a solicitor. However, ...

and ''Law Society of Sri Lanka'' represented the

Proctors Proctor's Theatre (officially stylized as Proctors since 2007; however, the marquee retains the apostrophe) is a theatre and former vaudeville house located in Schenectady, New York, United States. Many famous artists have performed there, notably ...

, after the amalgamation of both branches into a group of practitioners called the Attorneys-at-law under the ''Justice Law No. 44 of 1973 ''. Membership is optional for any Attorney-at-law. Traditionally the President of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka is considered the head of the unofficial bar.{{cite news , title=‘GOODBYE TO FIRST-EVER LADY CJ OF SRI LANKA’: BASL PRESIDENT , url=https://www.mfa.gov.lk/goodbye-to-first-ever-lady-cj-of-sri-lanka-basl-president/ , accessdate=4 May 2020 , publisher=Daily FT

Past Presidents

Hector Wilfred Jayewardene Deshamanya Hector Wilfred "Harry" Jayewardene, QC (November 3, 1916 - April 20, 1990) was a prominent Sri Lankan lawyer. In 1979 he was chairman of a UNESCO conference on human rights in Bangkok and later chairman of the Sri Lanka Foundation Ins ...

, QC (1975 - 1977) *

Eardley Perera John Eardley Russel Perera PC (20 October 1925 - 31 December 2004) was a Sri Lankan lawyer and the 2nd president of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (1977–78). He was a member of the Law Commission and the Council of Legal Education. Mr. Pere ...

, PC (1977 - 1979) * A. C. Gooneratne, QC (1979 - 1981) * A. C. de Zoysa (1981 - 1983) * Herman J C Perera (1983 - 1985) * Nimal Senanayake, PC (1985 - 1987) *

H. L. de Silva Deshamanya Herman Leonard de Silva, PC (28 January 1928 – 7 April 2009) was a Sri Lankan lawyer and diplomat. He was the former Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations (New York). He was a former President and honorary l ...

, PC (1987 - 1989) * Desmond Fernando, PC (1989 - 1991) *

Ranjith Abeysuriya Deshamanya Ranjith Abeysuriya, PC (1932 - 23 May 2014) was a Sri Lankan lawyer. He was the chairman of the National Police Commission, director public prosecutions of the Attorney General's Department, president of the Bar Association of Sri La ...

, PC (1991 - 1993) * D. W. Abeyakoon, PC (1993 - 1995) * N R M Daluwatte, PC (1995 - 1997) * Romesh de Silva, PC (1997 - 1999) * Upali A. Gooneratne, PC (1999 - 2001) * Ajantha W. Athukorala (2001 - 2003) * Ananda Wijesekera, PC (2003 - 2004) * M Ikram Mohamed, PC (2004 - 2005) * Desmond Fernando, PC (2005 - 2006) * Nihal Jayamanne, PC (2006 - 2008) * W. Dayaratne, PC (2008 - 2010) *

Shibly Aziz Mohamed Shibly Aziz, PC (1943 – 8 October 2018) was a Sri Lankan lawyer. He served as Attorney General of Sri Lanka from 1995 to 1996 and served in the Constitution Council of Sri Lanka from 2015 to 2018. Education Educated at Royal Colle ...

, PC (2010 - 2012) *

Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe Wijeyadasa Rajapakse, MP, PC (born 16 March 1959) is a Sri Lankan lawyer and politician. He is the current Minister of Justice and previously served in the same ministry from 2015 to 2017. He was the Prime Minister's nominee for the Constitutio ...

, PC (2012 - 2013) * Upul Jayasuriya, PC (2013 - 2015) * Geoffrey Alagaratnam, PC (2015 - 2017) * U. R. De Silva, PC (2017 - 2019) *

Kalinga Indatissa Kalinga Nandaka Indatissa PC is a Sri Lankan lawyer and former President of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka. He is also a legal academic. He has also held public office on several occasions and has represented clients in foreign jurisdictions ...

, PC (2019 - 2021) *

Saliya Pieris Saliya Pieris, PC is a Sri Lankan lawyer, and former President of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka. Pieris is an Eisenhower Fellow. He is also an alumnus of the Dealing with the Past (DwP) Programme, Switzerland and IVLP, USA. He began his ca ...

, PC (2021 - 2023 )

References

External links

website

Organizations established in 1974 Professional associations based in Sri Lanka Bar associations of Asia Law of Sri Lanka

Past Presidents

See also

References

External links