Prasanna Sujeewa Jayawardena, PC (10 March 1956 – 24 December 2019) was a

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 ...

n judge and lawyer. He was a

puisne justice A puisne judge or puisne justice (; from french: puisné or ; , 'since, later' + , 'born', i.e. 'junior') is a dated term for an ordinary judge or a judge of lesser rank of a particular court. Use The term is used almost exclusively in common law ...

of the

Supreme Court of Sri Lanka The Supreme Court of Sri Lanka ( si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණය, Sri Lanka Sreshthadikaranaya; ta, இலங்கை உயர் நீதிமன்றம், Ilankai uyar neetimanram) is th ...

Career

Jayawardena was educated at the

Royal College, Colombo Royal College, Colombo is a selective entry boys' school located in Cinnamon Gardens, Colombo, Sri Lanka. Started as a private school by Rev Joseph Marsh in 1835, it was established as the Colombo Academy by Sir Robert Wilmot-Horton in Janua ...

and the

University of Colombo (Buddhih Sarvatra Bhrajate) , mottoeng = ''Wisdom Enlightens'' , established = , endowment = Sri Lankan rupee, LKR 1.461 1,000,000,000 (number), billion

, graduating in 1978 with an

LL.B. Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...

(Honours). He worked briefly as a research officer in the legal research division of Marga Institute, headed by Dr

Neelan Tiruchelvam Neelakandan Tiruchelvam, PC ( ta, நீலகண்டன் திருச்செல்வம்; 31 January 1944 – 29 July 1999) was a Sri Lankan Tamil lawyer, academic, human rights activist and politician. He was a Member of Parli ...

, PC. In 1979, he joined

HSBC HSBC Holdings plc is a British multinational universal bank and financial services holding company. It is the largest bank in Europe by total assets ahead of BNP Paribas, with US$2.953 trillion as of December 2021. In 2021, HSBC had $10.8 tri ...

as an Executive Management Trainee, serving in many positions in Sri Lanka and overseas until 1989.Prasanna Sujeewa Jayawardena takes oaths as Supreme Court Judge
/ref> He passed his attorneys final examination at the

Sri Lanka Law College Sri Lanka Law College (abbreviated as SLLC), formerly known as Ceylon Law College, is a law college, and the only legal institution where one can enroll as a attorney-at-law in Sri Lanka. It was established in 1874, under the then Council of Legal ...

with a class and apprenticed under B.J. Fernando, PC. When Fernando retired in 1991, Jayawardena started his own practice, specializing in civil law, in the areas of commercial, banking, company, industrial and intellectual property law; appearing in the Commercial High Courts, District Courts, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court. He was appointed a

President's Counsel President's Counsel (postnominal PC) is an eminent lawyer who is appointed by the President of Sri Lanka to be one of the "President's Counsel learned in the law". The term is also recognized as an honorific which replaced the practice of appoint ...

in 2012. An active member of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka he served as its Deputy President in 2013 and 2014. He was also a visiting lecturer in Commercial Law at the Faculty of Law of the University of Colombo and at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies.

Supreme Court

Jayawardena was appointed to the Supreme Court as a judge by President

Maithripala Sirisena Maithripala Yapa Sirisena ( si, පල්ලෙවත්‍ත ගමරාළලාගේ මෛත්‍රීපාල යාපා සිරිසේන; ta, பல்லேவத்த கமராளலாகே மைத்திரி� ...

in June 2016. In January 2017, he was appointed by President Sirisena to a three member Special Presidential Commission of Inquiry in the investigate the Bond Issuance at the

Central Bank of Sri Lanka The Central Bank of Sri Lanka ( CBSL; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා මහ බැංකුව, Sri Lanka Maha Bankuwa) is the monetary authority of Sri Lanka. It was established in 1950 under the Monetary Law Act No.58 of 1949 (MLA), it is a ...

, which published its report in December 2017.

Personal life

Jayawardena died at the age of 63 on 24 December 2019 while receiving medical treatment at a hospital in Colombo. He was married and had three children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jayawardena, Prasanna 1956 births 2019 deaths Puisne Justices of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka President's Counsels (Sri Lanka) Sinhalese judges Sinhalese lawyers Alumni of Royal College, Colombo Alumni of the University of Colombo Academic staff of the University of Colombo