Nihal Jayawickrama

Nihal Jayawickrama

Nihal Mahendra Sudrikku Jayawickrama (born 1937) is a Sri Lankan academic. He was the former Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Justice (1970–1977), Professor of Law at University of Hong Kong (1984–1997), Ariel F Sallows Professor of Human Rights at the University of Saskatchewan, Canada (1992–1993), and Executive Director of Transparency International (1997–2000). He is now an independent legal consultant, and has been the Coordinator of the UN-sponsored Judicial Integrity Group since 2000.

Nihal Jayawickrama was born to a family of lawyers. His father, Alfred Sudrikku Jayawickrama, was a solicitor in the southern city of Galle, and belonged to a family that included several solicitors, advocates, queen's counsel, judges, and a minister of justice. His mother's elder brother, T.C.P.Fernando, was a district judge, while her younger brother, Justice T.S.Fernando QC was Solicitor General, Attorney General, Judge of the Supreme Court and President of the Court of Final Appeal.

Jayawickrama was educated at Richmond College, Galle and at the Royal College Colombo. Thereafter he entered the Law Faculty of the University of Ceylon, Peradeniya, from where he graduated in 1961. While in the university, he was actively involved in two student strikes: one over poor staff-student relations, and the other that sought acceptance of the principle of a fair and just inquiry before a student was punished.

He was called to the bar in 1962 after apprenticing in the chambers of A. H. C. de Silva, QC and C.Renganathan QC.

He commenced his practice under Dr Colvin R. de Silva, and also worked in the chambers of Vernon Wijetunge QC, R.A.Kannangara, and S.Ambalavanar. He practised in both original and appellate courts, and appeared in several cases of political significance at the time involving constitutional, administrative, election and human rights law. In 1968, he was elected to the Bar Council to represent the junior bar, and in 1969 was elected its honorary secretary. In his annual report for that year, he described the judicial system of Ceylon at the time as “an antique labyrinth with tortuous passages and cavities through which the potential litigant must grope, often blindfolded, in his search for justice”.

...
Wikipedia