Dr. Sachintha Dias is an associate in Quinn Emanuel’s London office. He joined the firm in 2023. His practice focusses on investor-state and commercial arbitration as well as commercial litigation. Prior to joining the firm, Sachintha worked as State Counsel at the Attorney General’s Department of Sri Lanka. He represented the Sri Lankan State as counsel in investor-state arbitration and commercial arbitration, judicial review applications, civil litigation including trials and final civil appeals and tax matters. Sachintha appeared as counsel regularly before all levels of courts in Sri Lanka including the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court.
As State Counsel, he also advised the Sri Lankan parliament on the constitutionality of bills, provided legal opinions to government agencies on behalf of the Attorney General, negotiated international loan agreements and international investment contracts and acted for the State in sovereign bond issues. He has also acted as an expert international law consultant for the United Nations.
He holds a doctorate (DPhil) in international law, a MPhil degree in international law and a Bachelor of Civil Law with Distinction from the University of Oxford. He was awarded the Tony Honoré scholarship for the Bachelor of Civil Law. He is also a passed finalist and three time prizewinner of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, United Kingdom. His published work has been cited by the Court of Appeal of Sri Lanka and he has worked as a lecturer in law at the University of Oxford and the University of Colombo.
- University of Oxford
(DPhil, International Law, 2023)
(MPhil, Law, 2018)
(BCL, with distinction, 2015)- Honoré Scholarship
- Sri Lanka Law College
(Attorney, Law Final Examination, 2014)- First Class Hons.
- University of Colombo
(LL.B., Faculty of Law, honors, 2013)
- First Class Hons
- University of Colombo Scholarship
- Dean’s Prize for Jurisprudence
- Chartered Institute of Management Accountants
(Passed Finalist, 2012)
- Sri Lanka
- Admitted in Sri Lanka only (practicing under the direct supervision of a member of the Law Society of England and Wales)
- Sinhalese
- Book Chapter: ‘The Internalization of Sri Lanka’s Obligations under International Investment Agreements’ in Calamita and Berman (eds) Investment Treaties and the Rule of Law Promise: The Asian Experience (Cambridge University Press 2022).
- Case Note: The British High Commission v Ricardo Jansen (State Immunity before the Supreme Court), The Bar Association Law Journal (2020 Vol XXV) 443 (Cited by the Court of Appeal of Sri Lanka).
- ‘Jam v IFC before the D.C. District Court: Forget the Floodgates, there won’t even be a Trickle’ Blog of the European Journal of International Law, EJIL: Talk! (1 April 2020)
- ‘The Constitutional Jurisprudence of Presidential Powers under the 1978 Constitution’ Asanga Welikala. (ed) Sri Lankan Presidentialism: Provenance, Problems, Prospects (Centre for Policy Alternatives 2015).