The ‘Association of Corporate Lawyers Sri Lanka’ (ACL) was formulated in the year 1987, as a forum of lawyers, mainly employed in Banks and other financial institutions. At inception its name was the ‘Association of Lawyers in Employment’ which was indicative of its membership; and even today, the main eligibility criteria for membership is ‘employment’. Today the membership of ACL in addition to banks and financial institutions, consist of corporate lawyers employed in private & public companies, government organizations, statutory bodies, law firms and other organizations operating in a number of areas,

The Association of ‘lawyers in employment’ or ‘Corporate Lawyers’ represents an identifiable segment of lawyers in the legal profession with specialized roles & objectives. For example, a Corporate Lawyer would focus on giving higher preference to contributing towards profit maximization or cost minimization in an organization while ensuring that all transactions are handled in a legally acceptable manner without creating an adverse impact on the business of the organization. Further he/she will work with other professionals in an organization as a member of a team focusing on achieving common goals. This ‘vision’, which has now become highly recognized and appreciated by a large number of organizations, has created a win-win situation, bringing a number of benefits not only to corporate lawyers and said organizations, but to the economy of the country as well.

ACL operates on defined objectives formulated and updated by its members who represent organizations which operate in different segments. ‘Professional Development’ and ‘Networking’ among members are two key objectives among such defined objectives.

In addition to organizing seminars, workshops and conferences, ACL has made specific a contribution towards organizing a Post-Attorney Diploma in Corporate Law, in order to ensure that ACL members are equipped with all necessary skills. Further ACL very closely works with other professional organizations in Sri Lanka to promote the concept of ‘Corporate Legal Counsel’, the most suitable definition for an in-house or an employed lawyer.

The main Annual Event of the ACL is the ‘Corporate Law Conference’ and ACL has so far organized four very successful conferences since 2005. Further this is the first law conference of the year.

In addition to the above, the ACL is in the process of developing effective relationships with other similar international associations of in-house lawyers or corporate counsels in different countries. This provides very unique opportunities to members to be aware of modern global trends and utilizations of such trends for the benefit of respective organizations where such members are employed.

I strongly believe that the ACL will be a very successful forum with a lot of interactions and networking among all employed lawyers.

I sincerely appreciate the contributions made by of all of you in achieving the said objectives of the ACL.