In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have executive responsibility for law enforcement, prosecutions or even responsibility for legal affairs generally. In practice, the extent to which the attorney general personally provides legal advice to the government varies between jurisdictions, and even between individual office-holders within the same jurisdiction, often depending on the level and nature of the office-holder's prior legal experience.
Sarath Nanda Silva PC served as the 41st Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka.
President's Counsel 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 appointment of Queen's Counsel (QC) which ceased when Sri Lanka became a republic in 1972. It is equivalent to the appointment of Queen's Counsel in the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms, such as New Zealand, and the equivalent of Senior Counsel in Commonwealth republics, such as South Africa, and derives the same privileges such as the privilege of sitting within the Bar of court.
The Attorney General of Sri Lanka is the Sri Lankan government's chief legal adviser, and its primary lawyer in the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka. The Attorney General is usually a highly respected Senior Advocate, and is appointed by the ruling government. The current Attorney General is Sanjay Rajaratnam. The president does not have any power to make orders, mandatory or otherwise, to the attorney general. He heads the Attorney General's Department which is the public prosecutor.
A State Counsel is a public prosecutor, representing the Attorney General of Sri Lanka in the legal system of Sri Lanka as well as represent the state on behalf of the Attorney General on civil proceedings related to the state or state institutions.
Upawansa Yapa PC was the 37th Solicitor General of Sri Lanka.
Chitta Ranjan De Silva, PC was a Sri Lankan lawyer. He was Attorney General and Solicitor General of Sri Lanka. He was the Chairman of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission.
Peter Mohan Maithree Peiris, PC is a Sri Lankan lawyer who served as the Attorney General of Sri Lanka from 2008 to 2011 and was the de facto Chief Justice of Sri Lanka from 2013 to 2015 when President Maithripala Sirisena declared his appointment void ab initio in 2015.
Mohamed Shibly Aziz, PC 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.
Arumadura Lawrence Romelo Duminda Silva, popularly as Duminda Silva or R. Dumindha Silva, is a Sri Lankan politician and a former Member of Parliament. He is the brother of Raynor Silva, owner of the Asia Broadcasting Corporation. On 8 September 2016 he was sentenced to death by the High Court of Sri Lanka for the murder of Sri Lankan politician Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra, a political rival.
Rear Admiral Sarath Palitha Fernando, PC, VNF is a Sri Lankan lawyer. He is the former Attorney General of Sri Lanka and had served as Solicitor General of Sri Lanka and Judge Advocate of the Sri Lanka Navy.
Deshamanya Justice Victor Tennekoon QC was a Sri Lankan lawyer and jurist. He served as the 35th Chief Justice of Sri Lanka, as well as the 33rd Attorney General and 23rd Solicitor General. From 1979 to 1984 Tennekoon served as Chancellor of the University of Peradeniya.
Justice Priyasath Dep PC is a Sri Lankan judge and lawyer. He was the 45th Chief Justice of Sri Lanka and a former Solicitor General of Sri Lanka.
Shanthi Eva Wanasundera PC is a Sri Lankan judge and lawyer. She was a sitting judge of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka. Prior to her appointment as Puisne Justice of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka, in 2012, she served as Solicitor General and Attorney General of Sri Lanka.
Edmund Walter Perera Seneviratne Jayawardena, QC was a Sri Lankan lawyer and diplomat. He was the 24th Solicitor General of Ceylon and Sri Lankan Ambassador to the Soviet Union.
Yasantha Kodagoda is a Puisne Justice of the Supreme Court of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka. He was called to the Bar as an Attorney-at-Law of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka on 28 October 1988. Prior to being appointed by the President of Sri Lanka as the President of the Court of Appeal in March 2019, he served as an Additional Solicitor General of the Attorney General's Department. Having joined the Attorney General's Department of Sri Lanka in 1989 as a State Counsel, he rose to the positions of Senior State Counsel (1999), Deputy Solicitor General (2005), Senior Deputy Solicitor General (2014) and Additional Solicitor General (2015). He has 30+ years of experience as a Public Prosecutor and Legal Advisor to the Government of Sri Lanka. His specialization is in the field of criminal justice. In 2015, in recognition of his eminence in the legal profession, he was appointed President's Counsel. He completed his primary and secondary education at Ananda College Colombo he was a president Scout of ananda college and then attended Sri Lanka Law College. He obtained Master's degree in Public International Law with Merit (LL.M.) from the University College London (UCL) He acted as the Director of the Advanced Legal Studies Unit of the Sri Lanka Law College and the Director of the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies of the Incorporated Council of Legal Education. He has served many Commissions of Inquiry as representative Counsel of the Attorney General. For over a decade, he has represented Sri Lanka before the UN Human Rights Commission and the UN Human Rights Council. He has also represented Sri Lanka before the UN Security Council's Working Group on Children in Armed Conflict, and has served as the Accredited Representative of the Government of Sri Lanka at the UN Committee Against Torture. He was a member of the EU-Sri Lanka Working Group on Trade and Economic Relations Cooperation 2016 and actively participated in Sri Lanka gaining the GSP+ trade concessions. Kodagoda is known as a book reviewer
Jayantha Chandrasiri Jayasuriya PC is a lawyer who is serving as the 47th Chief Justice of Sri Lanka since 2019. Jayasuriya was approved by the Constitutional Council on the 26 April 2019 and sworn in three days later on the 29 April, succeeding Chief Justice Nalin Perera. He previously served as the 45th Attorney General of Sri Lanka. While serving as Attorney General Jayasuriya defended the sacking of the Prime Minister by the President of Sri Lanka but was over-ruled by the Supreme Court. Jayasuriya controversially requested an extension of the term of office of President Sirisena prior to being made Chief Justice. The Supreme Court overruled that request.
Dappula de LiveraPC is a Sri Lankan lawyer and the former Attorney General of Sri Lanka. He previously served as the Solicitor General of Sri Lanka from February 2018 and took over as acting attorney general from 29 April 2019 until his formal appointment in May 2019.
Sanjay Rajaratnam, PC is a Sri Lankan lawyer. He is the current Attorney General of Sri Lanka. He previously served as the Acting Solicitor General of Sri Lanka from October 2019 up until May 2021.
Al-Haj Mohamed Haniffa Mohamed Naina Marikkar was a Sri Lanan lawyer and politician. He served as the Minister of Finance (1988-1989) and Deputy Minister of Finance (1978-1988) in the Jayewardene cabinet.
