Senior Attorney Padmini Indira Senaratne Samarasinghe was appointed by the Cabinet of Ministers as the new Legal Draftsman.
She was educated at Visakha Vidyalaya where she excelled in studies and sports. She holds the Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree from the Law Faculty, Colombo University and Master of Laws (LLM) degree from the Monash University, Australia. Post-Graduate Diploma in International Law and Organization for Development from the Institute of Social Studies, the Hague, the Netherlands and a Diploma in Commercial Arbitration awarded by the Institute for the Development of Commercial Law and Practice.
She served the Legal Draftsman’s Department for 33 years having joined the department in 1979 as an Assistant Legal Draftsman. During her period of service she had held the positions of Senior Assistant Legal Draftsman, Deputy Legal Draftsman and Additional Legal Draftsman. Before joining the department she was attached to Abrahama and De Alwis as a Legal Assistant.
Samarasinghe assisted former Supreme Court Judge Justice ERKDM Hector Deheragoda in the Revision of Legislative Enactments 1980 Edition under the authority of the Ministry of Justice, Sri Lanka.
She has been a visiting lecturer at the Sri Lanka Law College for the past 27 years.
She has participated in Legislative Drafting Programmes at the Commonwealth Fund for Technical Co-operation CFTC conducted in Sri Lanka.
Engaged in the preparation of the Mental Health Act WHO consultancy, the preparation of the Labour Code and the revision up to December 2008/2010 ILO Consultancy, the Guidelines for Drafting under a UNDP Project of the Human Rights Commission, Legal Consultant in drafting of a new Disaster Management Act under a UNDP Project and Legal Consultant in drafting of a new Nation Building and Research Organization under a UNDP Project.
She was the President of the Women Lawyers’ Association of Sri Lanka and member of the Executive Committee of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL). Committee member of the Netherlands Alumni Association of Sri Lanka, Medico-Legal Association of Sri Lanka, and Law Society of Sri Lanka.
Samarasinghe has represented Sri Lanka in Law Asia Conferences, contributed articles on numerous legal topics to the Bar Association News Letter, Law College Journal and Neethiya magazine.
Sarath Malalasekera
From Daily News, 5th June 2012
