H. L. de Silva
Deshamanya Herman Leonard de Silva, PC was a Sri Lankan lawyer and diplomat. He was the former Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations. He was a former President and honorary life member of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka.
Education
De Silva was educated at St Peter's College, Colombo and Nalanda College Colombo. He subsequently entered the Faculty of Law at the University of Ceylon in 1948, graduated LLB in 1951, completed the Ceylon Law College examinations and qualified for the Bar in 1953.Professional life
After a period of working alongside Felix Dias Bandaranaike in the unofficial bar, he joined the Attorney General Department in 1955 as a Crown Counsel, a post he relinquished in 1970 to rejoin the unofficial Bar.He was described as ""a master of the law, an eloquent speaker with the gift of presenting a case attractively, a good debater with a razor sharp intellect"" by Lakshman Kadirgamar and S. L. Gunasekara has classed him as one of the greats in Sri Lankan Law along with his close friend and contemporary in the Attorney General Department Elanga Wikramanayake.
He is best known for his work as an expert on Constitutional Law, being a member Government’s peace delegation at peace talks.