Justice A. L. Shiran Gooneratne received his primary and secondary education at St. Anthony’s College, Kandy. He entered Sri Lanka Law College in 1986. He was elected President of the Law Students Union in 1988. Justice Gooneratne was enrolled as an Attorney-at-Law of the Supreme Court in 1989. He joined the Attorney General’s Department as State Counsel in 1990 and was promoted to Senior State Counsel in 2002. From 1999 to 2001, he served as Senior State Counsel at the Attorney General’s Department of the Republic of Seychelles.
In 2007, he was appointed a Judge of the High Court, serving in Provincial Criminal High Courts and the Commercial High Court in Colombo. He was elevated to the Court of Appeal in 2017 and served as Acting President of the Court of Appeal in February 2020. Justice Gooneratne was appointed Justice of the Supreme Court on December 1, 2020.
In 2005, Justice Gooneratne obtained a Master of Laws Degree in Commercial and Corporate Law from King’s College, University of London. In 2012, he earned a Master of Arts in International Relations from the University of Colombo. In 2014, he was awarded the prestigious Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship, a Fulbright Program for outstanding professionals with leadership potential. During his fellowship, he was affiliated with Sacramento State University, California, and the Human Rights Center at the University of Minnesota Law School, specializing in Trafficking in Persons Policy and Prevention.
Justice Gooneratne was also attached to the 4th Judicial District Court in Minneapolis as a professional affiliate to the Hon. Judge of the District Court and shared a judicial attachment with the Hon. Judge of the Mental Health Court in Minneapolis. He has participated in advanced legal training programs at the Asser Institute at The Hague, the University of Melbourne, and the Judicial and Legal Training Institutes in India, Singapore, Switzerland, and Malaysia