Justice Dr. Leslie Mervyn Jayaratne is a Sri Lankan lawyer, judge, author and the 2nd Governor of Southern Province.
[1][2] Leslie Mervyn Jayaratne was born in Ahangama in the Southern Province.
[3] In the 1950s he entered the Ceylon Law College, passing out as a Proctor and practising in Matara.
Jayaratne joined the Sri Lankan judiciary in 1971 as a Magistrate with his first posting in Negombo.
After returning to Sri Lanka from a three-year tour of Fiji Jayaratne was appointed Governor of Southern Province on 31 December 1993 by the President Dingiri Banda Wijetunga, However, with the change of Government he lost that posting.