Shirani Tilakawardene

Shiranee Tilakawardane is a former puisne justice of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka and a member of the Judicial Service Commission. She has also served as acting chief justice when Mohan Peiris was out of the country.

Education Tilakawardane was educated at Bishop's College, Colombo and went on to study law at the Sri Lanka Law College. Her legal career commenced with an apprenticeship under Lalith Athulathmudali PC. This was followed by a tenure in the United States, where she served in the Consumer and Narcotic Division of the District Attorney's Office of Fort Colorado. She received an honorary degree from Williams College in June 2007 and an honorary degree from Smith College in May 2011.

Pioneer Justice Tilakawardane represented an early generation of women lawyers in Sri Lanka and scored many firsts. She became the first woman to be enrolled as a State Counsellor in 1978. She further established a record by being the country's first female judge of the High Court in April 1988 and became the first woman justice of the Court of Appeal of Sri Lanka in July 1998. She went on to become President of the Court of Appeals.