Junior National Law Conference 2019: ‘Towards a Digital Era in the Legal Profession’

The organising committee of the Junior National Law Conference 2019

A picture from the Junior National Law Conference held in 2018

The Junior National Law Conference 2019 (JNLC), organised by the Junior Bar Committee of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka, will be held from tomorrow to 1 December at The Blue Water Hotel, Wadduwa. 

This year President’s Counsel Kuvera de Zoysa acts as the Chairman of the Junior Bar Committee with Nishan Premathiratne as the Convener of the Junior Bar Committee. The conference committee comprises of Chairman Kaneel Maddumage, Deputy Chairman Thushangi Atapattu, Secretary Oshani Wijewardena and Treasurer Sachintha Kahandage.

Presently in Sri Lanka, the entire legal fraternity consists of approximately 20,000 lawyers, out of which approximately 8,000 lawyers are junior lawyers. Adhering to this year’s theme, the JNLC Committee made arrangements to have the tickets bought online, as opposed to interested delegates personally being present to purchase tickets; this development proved to be efficient and progressive.   

The Junior National Law Conference 2019 interweaved around the theme ‘e-JNLC 1.0- Towards a Digital Era in the Legal Profession’, was formulated with the intention of leaving behind the traditional practices embedded in the legal systems, which are now being superseded by the rapidly evolving information technology.   Humanity itself has already begun its journey into a borderless era. Digitising and digitalising of business and other services provided by governments worldwide has become paramount in this paperless new world. In this light jurisdictions globally have taken progressive measures in digitising and digitalising legal and judicial systems thereby creating a legal-tech ecosystem.  

The conference will unfold three special forums in addition to the civil, criminal and corporate plenary sessions. The inauguration will be followed by a forum to discuss and contemplate challenges faced by the present day legal profession, which will be conducted by Supreme Court Judge Buwaneka Aluwihare PC, Court of Appeal President Yasantha Kodagoda PC along with Bar Association of Sri Lanka President Kalinga Indatissa PC and Secretary Kaushalya Nawaratne. 

The PC Forum which will be held on 30 November will be led by pioneering President’s Counsels of the country who have graciously consented to share their valuable experiences in the profession adding great significance to the young professional’s career. 

A special forum on IT and Digitalisation will be conducted by Attorney-at-Law Jayantha Fernando, an expert on IT and internet law with the participation of very significant personnel representing the IT and Digital sector including a legal expert from one of the Big Four Tech companies in the world, which would indefinitely provide the participants with a unique experience.  

This year’s Conference will be attended by 350 delegates representing all bars across the country. Though one may consider this to be a mere percentage of the total number of junior lawyers, the JNLC committee has taken all such measures to have the sessions and material uploaded online, which would be accessible to all and any party interested. This provides all junior lawyers to be participants of the Conference, regardless of them not being able to physically attend the same.  

The inauguration ceremony of the Conference is to be held tomorrow with the participation of Chief Justice Jayantha Jayasuriya as the Chief Guest and with the participation of many distinguished legal professionals including Attorney General Dappula de Livera PC, Judges of the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal of Sri Lanka, along with other eminent members of the bar. 

The 10th edition of the Junior Bar Law Journal will be published in parallel to the conference and the inaugural ‘e-journal’ of the Junior Bar which comprises of articles from eminent Judges and academics will be launched tomorrow, keeping true to this year’s conference theme.