Sri Lanka Bar Association President U.R. De Silva appointed President’s Counsel

Sri Lanka Bar Association President U.R. De Silva has been appointed a President’s Counsel. 

A product of Ananda College, U.R. De Silva was invited to the Chamber of President’s Counsel Ananda Wijesekara to assist him in conducting criminal actions in the High Court. He appeared in numerous cases filed under the Emergency Regulations and Prevention of Terrorism Act from 1989-1996 and helped a lot of young offenders find their way out of prison. 

He was called to the Bar in 1983. Later, he commenced practising in Criminal Courts, High Courts and the Magistrates’ Courts independently.

He undertook the defence of a number of benchmarked criminal cases such as the Thomas Cook robbery case, Ralph Bultjan’s abduction case, Harsha Abeywardena murder case, Abdeen murder case, Krishantha Kumaraswami trial-at-Bar, Inoka Sewandi trial-at-Bar, Bidunuwewa massacre trail-at-bar, Angulana double murder trial-at-bar, Daya Pathirana murder case, Thrima Vitharana murder case, Nalanda Ellawala murder case, Mahanama Thilakaratne illegal arrest case, Talawakele Estate murder case, Khuram Shaiah murder case and Kotakethana double murder case.

Among his great accomplishments are his appointment as the Secretary to the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (2008-2009), Deputy President of the Colombo Law Society in 2007, President of the High Court Lawyer’s Association in 2006, Treasurer of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (2001-2002), Chairman of the Social and Welfare Committee of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka in 2000, Counsel for the Bank Ceylon Lawyer’s Panel in 2014, Counsel for the People’s Bank Lawyer’s Panel in 2013, a penal member of the Disciplinary Committee of Supreme Court by the Chief Justice in 2013 and Commissioner to the Legal Aid Commission in 2013 and he is presently functioning in this office.

He published a book titled ‘Aparada Neethiye Prayogika Wigrahaya’ for criminal practitioners in 2010 which was readily acknowledged by members of the profession. Due to high demand, the book was translated into Tamil in 2013 and reprinted. 

He was instrumental in starting the ‘Members Welfare Centres’ program to offer services such as the issuance of BASL and National Identity Cards, the renewal of membership and the sale of books through the BASL mobile bookshop to the BASL membership. He was also instrumental in organising a ‘Criminal Defence Course’ to disseminate practical knowledge in criminal practice and encourage lawyers to engage in more pro bono cases in criminal courts in collaboration with the Legal Aid Commission of Sri Lanka.

Silva started printing Unreported Appellate Court Judgements (Criminal Law) for the first time in 1998 in order to facilitate easy access to the latest judgments, a practice which has been continuing to date. He was instrumental in organising a three-month legal training program for Jaffna University students. He introduced the ‘Effective Instructing Attorney’ course to enhance the knowledge of lawyers interested in the role of an instructing attorney. The following project proposals were submitted on behalf of the Bar Association to the ‘Access to Justice’ project sponsored by UNDP, which has immensely benefitted the legal fraternity.

He also participated in several television and radio programs to educate vulnerable people on Access to Justice.