Mr. Hiran de Alwis

Profile

Hiran de Alwis, FCIArb, Attorney-at-Law is the Chairman, Board of Governors , Sri Lanka National Arbitration Centre. He was also the Chair of Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, UK( Sri Lanka branch 2023-25)

Mr. Hiran de Alwis is a Legal Counsel and Arbitrator in Colombo. He is engaged in practice as a Legal Counsel and advisor for over 25 years with expertise and practice specially in Civil and Commercial law litigation, Commercial and International Arbitrations. He has represented parties in diverse areas as Commercial, Banking, International Investments ,Contracts, private international law disputes in family, financial and inheritance matters.

He was the Chief Legal Advisor Sri Lanka National Arbitration Centre .He was instrumental in establishing the UNCITRAL and Expedited Arbitration rules. He also previously held office as a Director of the Colombo Stock Exchange and functioned as the Chairman, of its Arbitration and Dispute Resolution Committees.

Upon obtaining a Degree of Bachelor of Laws(LLB) from the University of Colombo, he also became an Attorney-at-Law of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka. Apart from being a Fellow of CIArb, UK, he also possesses a Post Graduate Diploma in Law (Merit) in International Dispute Resolution from the University of London.

He was a member of the Bar Council of Sri Lanka, and also was Chairman of the National Law Conference BASL. He has presented papers and made presentations to several professional Bodies including the National Chamber of Commerce, the Law Conferences of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka, The Indian Bar Association ,The Institute of Architects, Contractors Associations, The Kunming China International Arbitration Centre on International trade, and Corporate Law Associations.

He has been appointed by several Ministers of Justice for committees on reforms to Arbitration Laws and for developing of Arbitration Law and practice.

He also has participated in several international conferences, Law Asia and also the Centenary London Conference of CIArb in London in 2015.

He has been on the Board of several companies, and functioned as Chairman Board of Trustees of an educational Trust

Apart from his legal practice, he has special interests in cross border trade and investments and professional services, and interest in private and public International Law, Economics, and is bilingual.

Amongst his other interests are, Cricket, Reading, Music and Child rights. He also has been a member of the Schools and University Cricket teams.

He is married with 3 children and lives in Colombo.

One of his objectives is for enhancing a robust and effective dispute resolution system to facilitate a more peaceful world order, and enhance opportunities for economic growth.