A. Gnanathasan

Last updated
A. Gnanathasan

PC
Born
Chavakachcheri
Alma materDrieberg College
Hartley College
Jaffna College
Sri Lanka Law College
University of the West Indies
OccupationLawyer

Aiyathurai Gnanathasan is a leading Sri Lankan Tamil lawyer, President's Counsel and Additional Solicitor General.

Contents

Early life and family

Gnanathasan was born in Chavakachcheri in northern Ceylon. [1] [2] He is the son of V. N. Aiyathurai, Deputy Principal of Drieberg College, and P. Aiyathurai, a teacher at Drieberg College. [1] [2] He was educated at the Drieberg College, Hartley College and Jaffna College. [2] After school he joined the Sri Lanka Law College, qualifying as an attorney-at-law. [2] At the college he won the "Sir Ponnambalam Ramanathan Gold Medal for the Address to the Jury" in 1978 and 1979. [2]

Career

After being called to bar in 1980, Gnanathasan started practising law in the chambers of President's Counsel A. Mahendrarajah. [1] [2] He worked for the Sivanathan and Associates law firm. [1] [2] Later he joined the Attorney-General's Department as a State Counsel. [1] [2] He served as prosecutor in all of Sri Lanka's High Courts and worked on the famous "Palavi murder" case in Jaffna and "Ampara beauty queen case" in Batticaloa. [2]

Gnanathasan qualified as solicitor in the United Kingdom on 1 July 1992 and worked for the Rajah and Company law firm. [1] [2] He was admitted as a practitioner (barrister and solicitor) of the Supreme Court of Tasmania on 11 April 1994. [1] [2] He was admitted as a solicitor of the Supreme Court of New South Wales on 2 May 1994. [1] [2]

Back in Sri Lanka, Gnanathasan became Senior State Counsel in 1995, Deputy Solicitor General on 14 July 1999 and Additional Solicitor General 30 April 2008. [1] [2] [3]

Gnanathasan was a visiting lecturer in criminal law at the Sri Lanka Law College between 1995 and 2007 and served as chairman of the Board of Examiners (Preliminary) at the college. [1] [2] He completed the Master of Laws degree from the University of the West Indies in 1998 after receiving a Commonwealth Scholarship. [1] [2] He has been a visiting lecturer and examiner at the Faculty of Law, University of Colombo since 2003. [1] [2] He was appointed President's Counsel on 9 March 2009. [1] [2]

Gnanathasan joined the Board of Directors of Jaffna College in 2000 and served as its chairman between 2002 and 2006. [2] He has been vice-chairman of Jaffna College Old Boys’ Association (Colombo Branch) since 2000 and he was vice-president of the Hartley College Past Pupils’ Association between 1999 and 2007. [2]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Maniccavasgar, Chelvatamby (8 March 2009). "Add. Solicitor General to take silk as PC". The Sunday Times (Sri Lanka) .
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 Maniccavasgar, Chelvatamby (5 March 2009). "A. Gnanathasan takes Silk as President's Counsel". Daily News (Sri Lanka) . Archived from the original on 10 March 2009.
  3. ↑ "Law Officers". Attorney-General's Department (Sri Lanka).
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