Dr. Gunawansa holds a Ph.D. in law from the National University of Singapore and an LL.M from University of Warwick. He has over 30 years of experience as a lawyer and currently heads Colombo Law Alliance, a Law Chamber specializing in Commercial Law, Construction Law, and Arbitration. He is a Member of the National Procurement Commission and a Visiting Professor at the University of Moratuwa. He is a Member of the Board of Studies of the Council of Legal Education of Sri Lanka and a Visiting Judge of the Court of Appeal of the Republic of Fiji.
He is a Fellow of the Singapore Institute of Arbitrators and a Distinguished Panel Member of the Thailand Arbitration Centre and a Member of several other international arbitration centers including SIAC, HKIAC and AIAC. In the past, Dr. Gunawansa had worked for the United Nations as a Legal Officer and as a Professor at the National University of Singapore. He started his career as a State Counsel attached to the Department of the Attorney General of Sri Lanka.