Sanjay Rajaratnam, PC 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 ...

. He previously served as the Acting Solicitor General of Sri Lanka from October 2019 up until May 2021.

Family and education

Sanjay Rajaratnam's father, Sivakumaran Rajaratnam, was an Advocate who took oaths in 1955, and his grandfather was Duraiappah Rajaratnam MBE, a Crown Proctor from Trincomalee, who was also the first Chairman of the Trincomalee Urban Council. Rajaratnam received his primary and secondary education at the St. Peter's College, Bambalapitiya and

Royal College, Colombo Royal College, Colombo also known as; Royal Colombo, Colombo Royal College or Colombo Royal) is a Single-sex education, boys' school located in Cinnamon Gardens, Cinnamon Gardens, Colombo, Sri Lanka. Started by Joseph Marsh (priest), Joseph Mar ...

He then entered 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 ...

and qualified as an

attorney-at-law Attorney at law or attorney-at-law, usually abbreviated in everyday speech to attorney, is the preferred term for a practising lawyer in certain jurisdictions, including South Africa (for certain lawyers), Sri Lanka, the Philippines, and the Unit ...

. Rajaratnam also received an

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 ...

from the

Queen Mary University of London Queen Mary University of London (QMUL, or informally QM, and formerly Queen Mary and Westfield College) is a public university, public research university in Mile End, East London, England. It is a member institution of the federal University ...

and qualified as a

solicitor A solicitor is a lawyer who traditionally deals with most of the legal matters in some jurisdictions. A person must have legally defined qualifications, which vary from one jurisdiction to another, to be described as a solicitor and enabled to p ...

Legal career

He joined the Attorney General's Department in April 1988 as a State Counsel. He was later promoted as Senior State Counsel, and then Deputy Solicitor General. In 2014, he was appointed as the

President's Counsel A president's counsel ( postnominal PC) is an eminent lawyer who is appointed by the President of Sri Lanka as an individual "learned in the law". The term is an honorific that replaced the Queen's Counsel (QC), which Sri Lanka ceased appointing ...

by the then Sri Lankan President

Mahinda Rajapaksa Mahinda Rajapaksa (; ; born Percy Mahendra Rajapaksa; 18 November 1945) is a Sri Lankan politician. He served as the sixth President of Sri Lanka from 2005 to 2015; the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka from 2004 to 2005, 2018, and 2019 to 2022; the ...

. In October 2019, he replaced

Dilrukshi Dias Wickramasinghe Dilrukshi Dias Wickramasinghe also simply known as Dilrukshi Dias is the 46th Solicitor General of Sri Lanka. She has held several posts during her career including the position of Director General of the Bribery Commission. In September 2019, s ...

as the acting

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 ...

following the latter's leaked controversial phone call with Avant Garde chairman. On 20 May 2021, the Parliamentary Council approved the appointment of Sanjay Rajaratnam to the position of Attorney General of Sri Lanka replacing

Dappula de Livera Dappula de Livera 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 29April 2019 until his formal appo ...

References

External links

Attorney-General's Department
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rajaratnam, Sanjay Attorneys general of Sri Lanka Solicitors general of Sri Lanka President's Counsels (Sri Lanka) Sri Lankan Tamil people 21st-century Sri Lankan lawyers 20th-century Sri Lankan lawyers Alumni of Royal College, Colombo Alumni of St. Peter's College, Colombo Alumni of Sri Lanka Law College Alumni of Queen Mary University of London Year of birth missing (living people) Living people