Rear Admiral Rear admiral is a flag officer rank used by English-speaking navies. In most European navies, the equivalent rank is called counter admiral. Rear admiral is usually immediately senior to commodore and immediately below vice admiral. It is ...

Sarath Palitha Fernando, PC, VNF is a

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

n lawyer. He is the former

Attorney General of Sri Lanka 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 go ...

and had served as

Solicitor General of Sri Lanka The solicitor general of Sri Lanka is a post subordinate to the Attorney General of Sri Lanka, attorney general of Sri Lanka. The solicitor general of Sri Lanka assists the attorney general, and is assisted by four additional solicitors general. ...

and

Judge Advocate Judge-advocates are military lawyers serving in different capacities in the military justice systems of different jurisdictions. Australia The Australian Army Legal Corps (AALC) consists of Regular and Reserve commissioned officers that prov ...

of the

Sri Lanka Navy The Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) (; ) is the navy, naval arm of the Sri Lanka Armed Forces and is classed as the country's most vital defence force due to its island geography. It is responsible for the maritime defence of the Sri Lankan nation and its ...

Education

Educated at the

Royal College Colombo Royal College, Colombo also known as; Royal Colombo, Colombo Royal College or Colombo Royal) is a boys' school located in Cinnamon Gardens, Colombo, Sri Lanka. Started by Joseph Marsh in 1835, it was established as the Colombo Academy by Si ...

, where he captained the College English and Sinhala debating teams, served as student chairman of the College English Literary Association and general secretary of the Sinhala Literary Association. He also became the President of the Young Zoologists' Association of Sri Lanka in 1976. Entering 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 enrol as an Attorney-at-Law in Sri Lanka. It was established in 1874, under the then Council of Le ...

he passed the preliminary and final examinations with First Class Honours, gaining the Prize for Commercial Law and the Hector Jayawardena Gold Medal. He gained an

LL.B. A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...

from the

University of Colombo The University of Colombo (informally Colombo University or UoC) is a Public University, public research university located primarily in Colombo, Sri Lanka. It is the oldest institution of modern higher education in Sri Lanka. Specialised in t ...

as an external student and went on to gain two

LL.M. A Master of Laws (M.L. or LL.M.; Latin: ' or ') is a postgraduate academic degree, pursued by those either holding an undergraduate academic law degree, a professional law degree, or an undergraduate degree in another subject. In many jurisdi ...

s, one in International Law from the

and another in International Commercial Law from the

University of Bristol The University of Bristol is a public university, public research university in Bristol, England. It received its royal charter in 1909, although it can trace its roots to a Merchant Venturers' school founded in 1595 and University College, Br ...

Legal career

After taking oaths as an attorney at law he joined the Attorney General's Department as an acting State Counsel in 1980, later becoming a Senior State Counsel in 1989 and Deputy Solicitor General in 1997. During this time he prosecuted in several major crime cases. Having joined the Volunteer Naval Force in 1989 as a

Commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank as well as a job title in many army, armies. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countri ...

, in 2004 he was appointed Judge Advocate of the Sri Lanka Navy, to head its legal branch. He had served as prosecutor and also Judge Advocate at several Courts Martial of all three Services, including the Court-Martial of the Commander Southern Naval Command in 2008.Court-martial of Southern Naval Area Commander
/ref> In 2011, he was appointed

Solicitor General A solicitor general is a government official who serves as the chief representative of the government in courtroom proceedings. In systems based on the English common law that have an attorney general or equivalent position, the solicitor general ...

and served as acting Attorney General from July 2011 until formal appointment in June 2012. He retired from the post on 23 October 2014. He is a visiting lecturer at the

General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University (KDU) ( Sinhala: ජෙනරාල් ශ්‍රිමත් ජෝන් කොතලාවල ආරක්ෂක විශ්ව විද්‍යාලය ''General Sir John Kotelawala'' ''Ar ...

Open University of Sri Lanka The Open University of Sri Lanka (OUSL; , ) is a national university in Sri Lanka. It is unique within the Sri Lankan national university system for being the only university to offer programs of study leading to certificate, diploma, degrees ...

and a faculty member of Bandaranaike Centre for International Studies.

References

External links

Attorney-General's Department
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fernando, Palitha Living people F President's Counsels (Sri Lanka) Sinhalese people Sri Lankan lawyers Sri Lankan rear admirals Sinhalese military personnel Alumni of Royal College, Colombo Alumni of the University of Colombo Alumni of the University of Bristol Alumni of Sri Lanka Law College F Year of birth missing (living people)