Senior Counsel Kaushalya Nawaratne has declared his candidacy for the post of President, of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) for the year 2023/2024. The BASL election is set to be held in February 2023.

An old boy of St. Thomas’ College, Matale he was called to the Bar in June 1997 after completing his studies at the Sri Lanka Law College. Nawaratne has over 25 years of experience as a counsel. He heads a chamber and has produced many juniors who have become successful practitioners both in the Official and Unofficial Bar. His professional services are retained by many leading law firms, Individuals and Corporates in diversified legal matters.

Nawaratne has developed a practice which mainly involves the areas of Civil and Commercial Law, including Banking, Insurance, Intellectual Property, Company Law, Telecommunication, Money Recovery, Testamentary, Defamation, Matrimonial Disputes, Land, Partition and Rent & Ejectment. Furthermore, he functions as a Legal Advisor to many Corporate Entities and Banking Institutions wherein professional services are rendered relating to Corporate Legal matters, Regulatory Frameworks, Compliance requirements and Legal due diligence.

Even though his legal practice is mainly based in Colombo, he appears in original Courts throughout the Country. He is also involved in alternative Dispute Resolution mechanisms such as Arbitration and Mediation, where he also functions as an Arbitrator relating to commercial disputes.

Serving the legal community in many capacities Nawaratne was the Secretary of the Colombo Law Society (2014/2016) and thereafter was elected as the President of the Colombo Law Society (2016/2017).

Nawaratne served the Bar Association as the Zonal Vice President (Colombo), member of the Executive Committee and Member of the Bar Council for many years. He also functioned as its secretary in 2019.