20 Years Since Assassination of Lakshman Kadirgamar

Hon. Lakshman Kadirgamar was born in Colombo on 12 April 1932. He completed his secondary education at Trinity College, Kandy, where he excelled in academics and in a wide range of sports, including cricket, rugby, and athletics.

In 1950, he studied law at the University of Ceylon and graduated with a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree in 1953. Lakshman Kadirgamar was admitted to the Ceylon Bar in 1955. He later pursued his graduate studies at Balliol College, University of Oxford, where he became President of the Oxford Union in 1959 and obtained a Bachelor of Letters (B.Litt.) in 1960. 

He pursued legal practice both in Sri Lanka as an Advocate and the UK as a Barrister of the Inner Temple and was appointed as a President’s Counsel in 1991. In 2004 he was appointed as an Honorary Bencher of The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple.

The late Hon. Lakshman Kadirgamar held the office of the Minister of Foreign Affairs for over a decade and is one of the most respected political leaders in Sri Lanka’s recent history. He held the position of Foreign Minister until his assassination by the LTTE on 12 August, 2005.