K. Sripavan

Sripavan was born on 29 February 1952.[5][6] He is the son of Nadaraja Kanagasabapathy, an employee of Kankesanthurai Cement Factory. He was educated at Jaffna Hindu College between 1962 and 1972.[5][6][7] He joined Sri Lanka Law College in 1974 and passed out as an attorney at law in 1976, obtaining a first class in the Intermediate Examination.[5][6][7]

After qualifying Sripavan enrolled as an attorney-at-law on 23 August 1977 and practised law at the unofficial Bar of Sri Lanka between 1977 and 1978.[5][7][8] He then joined the Attorney General's Department as an acting State Counsel on 13 February 1978.[5][6][7][8] He became a permanent State Counsel on 1 January 1979.[8][9] He was promoted to Senior State Counsel on 3 March 1989.[5][6][8]

Sripavan was appointed Deputy Solicitor General on 22 February 1996.[5][6][7] He was the head of the Court of Appeal Unit and worked on Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court cases including Bills and Fundamental Rights applications.[10] He supervised state counsels and revenue matters.[8] Sripavan continued his legal studies whilst working, obtaining a diploma in Industrial Law from the University of Colombo in 1992 and Master of Laws from the Queen Mary and Westfield College, part of the University of London, in 1994.[5][8]

Sripavan was appointed a judge of the Court of Appeal on 29 May 2002.[5][6][7] He went on to become president of the Court of Appeal on 5 March 2007.[6][8][11] He was appointed to the Supreme Court on 27 March 2008, replacing retiring Justice Nihal Jayasinghe.[6][12][13] He was acting Chief Justice on three occasions.[8][10]