Tan Sri Nallini Pathmanathan

Nallini holds a degree in Physiology from the University of London and undertook the conversion course in law, prior to being called to the English Bar in 1984. She then joined Skrine in Kuala Lumpur and practiced at the Bar for 21 years. She co-authored a book entitled “The Law of Dismissal”.

Nallini is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and a certified mediator.

She presently sits as a full-time arbitrator and mediator. Nallini was appointed a judge of the Qatar International Court and Dispute Resolution Centre (QICDRC) as of end March 2026. She has yet to be benched.

Appointed to the Bench in 2007, Nallini is the first female judge of South Asian ethnicity to be elevated to the superior judiciary in Malaysia. She served at the Criminal Courts of the High Court of Shah Alam before her appointment as a High Court Judge in 2009. She served at the Court of Appeal from 2014 and subsequently the Federal Court, Malaysia’s apex court, from 2018. She was conferred honorary awards by the King in 2014 and in 2023. Nallini retired from the Bench on 23 February 2026.

Nallini was a member of the Judicial Academy of Malaysia. She managed the Commercial Courts in Kuala Lumpur and oversaw the establishment of the Admiralty Court. Her judgments during her tenure set critical precedents in corporate insolvency and maritime law.

She was editor of the Malaysian “White Book” and is the general editor of Bullen & Leake & Jacob’s Malaysian Precedents of Pleadings.

Beyond Malaysia, Nallini actively engages in global legal discourse. As Vice Chair of the International Bar Association’s Judges’ Forum and a member of the Steering Group of the Standing International Forum of Commercial Courts (SIFoCC), she helps shape international best practices for commercial dispute resolution. Her commitment to legal education is reflected in her role as Patron of the Commonwealth Legal Education Association (CLEA). In 2025, she was appointed Chairperson of the Malaysia Maritime Law Review and Reform Committee under the Ministry of Transport, spearheading updates to the country’s maritime legal framework. Concurrently, she serves as Advisor to the Cross-Border Insolvency Law Reform Main Committee and Working Committee for the Malaysian Government, driving legislative modernisation.

She is a Bencher of the Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, and a corporate member of the Cheltenham Ladies’ College, United Kingdom.