Mr. Naomal Goonewardena was admitted to the Bar in Sri Lanka in 1985, having completed his professional education at Sri Lanka Law College.
Mr. Goonewardena thereafter joined the Attorney General’s Department of Sri Lanka as a State Counsel in 1987. In 1991 Mr. Goonewardena resigned from the Attorney General’s Department to join the private sector in the capacity of a Corporate Lawyer in the Investment Banking Division of the DFCC Bank. In 1993 he joined Ernst & Young, Chartered Accountants as a Senior Tax Manager until 1996, when he left the Firm to become a founding Partner of NITHYA PARTNERS.

Mr. Goonewardena has a multi disciplinary professional background. Apart from his qualifications as an Attorney-at-Law he is also an Associate Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka (ACA), the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (ACMA) and a Member of the Association of Investment Management and Research (CFA). He also holds Masters in Business Administration from the University of Sri Jayewardenepura in Sri Lanka.

Mr. Goonewardena specializes in Financial Law and Communications Law. He has been involved in advising various parties nationally and internationally in loan syndications, bank restructurings, securitizations, derivatives, due diligence on acquisitions and taxation.

Mr. Goonewardena has also been a Lecturer at the Sri Lanka Law College in Commercial Law from 1997 to 2001 and in Tax Law since 2003. He is also closely involved in various committees on Taxation and apart from having being a Legal Advisor to the Board of Review of the Inland Revenue Department from 1998 to 2002, he is presently serving as a Committee Member of the Faculty of Taxation of the Institute of Chartered Accountants for Sri Lanka and the Sri Lanka branch of the International Chamber of Commerce. He is also a Member of a committee appointed by the Securities and Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka to review the Take Overs and Mergers Code and of a committee appointed by the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce to advise it on Company Law.