Two President’s Counsels take silk

By Lakmal Sooriyagoda

Two attorneys currently serving as Additional Solicitors General (ASG) at the Attorney General’s Department were sworn in as President’s Counsel (PC) yesterday during a ceremonial sitting of the Supreme Court.

ASG Dileepa Peeris and ASG Shanil Kularatne were appointed as President’s Counsel by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake.

ASG Dileepa Peeris and ASG Shanil Kularatne took their oaths as President’s Counsel before Chief Justice Jayantha Jayasuriya PC and the judges of Apex Courts, Colombo High Courts, Colombo District Courts and Colombo Chief Magistrate’s Courts.

President’s Counsel is a professional rank and status conferred to the appointee by the President under Article 33 (cc) of the Constitution. According to the constitutional provision, attorneys-at-law who have reached eminence in the profession and have maintained high standards of conduct and professional rectitude are appointed as President’s Counsel by the President.

Dileepa Peeris holds an LLB degree from the University of Colombo. After joining the Attorney General’s Department of Sri Lanka in April 1997 as a State Counsel, he was promoted to the posts of Senior State Counsel, Deputy Solicitor General, and subsequently, Additional Solicitor General. Peeris is a distinguished alumnus of S. Thomas’ College, Mount Lavinia. He has served as the lead prosecutor in several high-profile cases, including the Gotabaya Rajapaksa Monument case, case on attempted assassination of Maithripala Sirisena, Tissa Attanayake case, Chandana Kathriarachchi murder case, Prasanna Ranatunga case, and the Eknaligoda Abduction case.

Shanil Kularatne passed the Attorneys-at-Law (Final) Examination conducted by the Sri Lanka Law College in April 1996. He also holds a certificate in Commercial Law from the School of Law, City University, Hong Kong (April 2002). With 27 years of experience, Kularatne has extensive expertise in conducting criminal prosecutions involving complex crimes in the High Court. He currently represents the State in criminal appeals filed in the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court. Kularatne has handled notable cases such as the VAT scam, the Journalist Mel Gunasekera murder case, and the Lakshman Kadirgamar assassination case.