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Suresh Sriskandarajah

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Suresh Sriskandarajah, Lawyer - BASc, BA, MBA, JD, of the Bar of Ontario
Suresh Sriskandarajah, Lawyer - BASc, BA, MBA, JD, of the Bar of Ontario

Suresh Sriskandarajah (born 1980) is a lawyer at Suresh Law PC with a background in engineering and entrepreneurship. He completed his articles at boutique firms in the areas of corporate, technology and administrative law. Over the course of his career, Sriskandarajah has held executive roles with various organizations, launched three ventures and mentored dozens of startups. He has also worked for companies such as Amazon, Microsoft and BlackBerry. Sriskandarajah speaks English, French and Tamil.[1]

Sriskandarajah has earned four degrees: Juris Doctor (JD) from Osgoode Hall Law School, Strategic Management (MBA) from Lazaridis School of Business & Economics, Electrical Engineering (BASc) and Liberal Studies (BA) from the University of Waterloo. He was the recipient of the Student Honours Award at Osgoode, CIBC Leaders in Entrepreneurship Award and John McBain International Award for humanitarian work. Sriskandarajah volunteered at IP Osgoode Innovation Clinic, Canadian Civil Liberties Association, Centre for Law, Society and Technology.[1]

Background

Sriskandarajah is a Canadian citizen who pleaded guilty to U.S. charges of conspiring to provide material support to the Tamil Tigers, a Sri Lankan terrorist organization. He was sentenced to two years in U.S. prison.[2][3]

Sriskandarajah was born in Sri Lanka. In 1989 his family fled to Montreal to avoid the violent civil war taking place in the northern part of the country.

In 2004, Sriskandarajah used Hotmail, a US company, to communicate regarding the Tamil Tigers.

Shortly after graduating from the University of Waterloo's engineering program in 2006, Sriskandarajah was arrested by Canadian authorities at the request of US authorities. He was released on bail pending extradition challenges which were heard by the Supreme Court of Canada in 2012. During this time, he completed an Arts degree from Waterloo, a Laurier MBA degree in the top 5% of his class and began studying for a law degree at the University of Ottawa. Shortly after being extradited to the US, Sriskandarajah pled guilty and was sentenced to 2 years in prison.[4]

Both the Sri Lankan and Indian governments sent a diplomatic note to ask U.S. to abandon the prosecution against Sriskandarajah was arrested "in light of his publicly recognized efforts to secure a lasting, peaceful reconciliation for the Tamil people" wrote Judge Raymond Dearie of the U.S. District Court. "Given the history of Sri Lanka’s prolonged and bitter conflict, the request is indeed an extraordinary initiative that evidences Suresh’s legitimate and admirable work to secure a lasting and just resolution of the tragic conflict."[5] The civil war in Sri Lanka came to a bloody end when the Tamil Tigers were defeated in 2009 along with a heavy civilian casualty. [6]

While he was being held at the Metropolitan Detention Centre (MDC) in Brooklyn, he completed law school exams, and tutored 156 inmates to complete their high school equivalency and English as a second language tests.[2]

In 2018, three years after his return to Canada, Sriskandarajah graduated from Osgoode Hall Law School with honours, in addition to previously completing engineering, arts and business degrees. He also held executive roles at technology companies. Sriskandarajah became licensed to practice law in Ontario in 2020 after completing his legal training and a good character hearing.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b "Suresh Law". Suresh Law. 2020-11-26. Retrieved 2020-12-07.
  2. ^ a b "'Waterloo Suresh' gets two years prison for helping terrorists acquire 'sophisticated' military tech". National Post. Retrieved 2017-05-14.
  3. ^ "'Waterloo Suresh' gets 2 years for attempt to help Tamil Tigers". CBC News. Retrieved 2017-05-14.
  4. ^ "Sriskandarajah v. United States of America - SCC Cases (Lexum)". scc-csc.lexum.com. Retrieved 2017-11-02.
  5. ^ "Sri Lanka urges U.S. to drop charges against Canadian accused of supporting terrorism". National Post. 2013-03-11. Retrieved 2017-09-21.
  6. ^ "Sri Lanka profile". BBC News. 2017-09-04. Retrieved 2017-11-02.
  7. ^ "A man of good character: Law society answers whether a tiger can change his stripes". National Post. Retrieved 2020-11-07.
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