Nationality: Malaysian | CALL: 1985 (Middle Temple)

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 as well as a certified mediator.

Nallini was appointed to the Bench in 2007. She was the first female judge of South Asian ethnicity to be elevated to the superior judiciary in Malaysia. She was elevated to the Court of Appeal in 2014, and the Federal Court, the apex court in Malaysia, in 2018.  In 2014, she was conferred an honorary award by the King. Nallini now sits as a full time arbitrator, mediator and international judge in the Qatar International Court.

Nallini is a member of the Judicial Academy of Malaysia. She manages the Commercial Courts in Kuala Lumpur. She edits the Malaysian “White Book” and is the general editor of Bullen & Leake & Jacob’s Malaysian Precedents of Pleadings. She is the President of The Middle Temple Alumni Association of Malaysia and a corporate member of the Cheltenham Ladies’ College, United Kingdom.

Tan Sri Nallini Pathmanathan’s career has been defined by her expertise in both public law and private law, with a lasting impact on Malaysia’s jurisprudence. Elevated to the Bench in 2007 as a Judicial Commissioner, she served at the Criminal Courts of the High Court of Shah Alam before her appointment as a High Court Judge in 2009. At the High Court, she played a pivotal role in the Commercial Courts and the newly established Admiralty Court, building Malaysia’s reputation as a hub for commercial litigation. Her judgments during this period set critical precedents in corporate insolvency and maritime law. Her elevation to the Court of Appeal in 2014 marked a deepening expertise in appellate commercial law, where she shaped key legal principles in corporate disputes. In 2018, she was elevated to the Federal Court of Malaysia, the nation’s apex court, where she has since delivered landmark rulings in constitutional, commercial, and public law matters.

Beyond Malaysia, Tan Sri 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 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, driving legislative modernisation. A Bencher of the Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, she remains deeply engaged with the Commonwealth legal tradition while advancing Malaysia’s judicial prominence.

Her early legal practice encompassed family and industrial relations law before she transitioned into insolvency and commercial law during the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997, where she advised regulatory bodies and a statutorily constituted national recovery body.

She has recently been appointed as Judge of The Qatar International Court and Dispute Resolution Centre (QICDRC) as of end March 2026. She has yet to be benched.