The Hon. Harshana Nanayakkara
Hon. Harshana Nanayakkara clarified that a barrister qualification obtained abroad does not by itself permit appearance in Sri Lankan courts, and that one must pass the local Attorneys-at-Law examination. He argued that “Barrister” is not an accepted local professional title for practice without conversion or local qualification, noting that the “Attorney” examination existed only before 1973. He suggested seeking clarification from the Council of Legal Education on the use of such titles in Sri Lanka.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 Okay, you did pupillage. But after returning to Sri Lanka, with a barrister licence you cannot directly go to court. You must do the Attorneys-at-Law exam here. Without the Attorneys-at-Law exam, you cannot appear here. If “Barrister” were an accepted local title, without the conversion exams we could appear as Attorneys-at-Law—neither you nor I can. I too did the Attorneys-at-Law exam. Hence, there is no legal argument: if you wish, use “Professor,” not “Attorney.” The best way is to write to the Council of Legal Education and ask whether you can use that title here. In Sri Lanka, the “Attorney” examination existed only prior to 1973. That is my clarification; I do not wish to prolong a legal debate.
Provenance
- Source
- Hansard, Tuesday, 17 December 2024 ·No. 1734685396083959 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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/lk/speeches/18250
Cite as: The Hon. Harshana Nanayakkara. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 17 December 2024. No. 1734685396083959. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/18250