After attending Deyi Secondary School and Anderson Junior College, he graduated from the National University of Singapore with a Bachelor of Arts in political science and sociology.

[11] Reuters and The New York Times noted that the waging of lawsuits by Singaporean political leaders have been criticised as attempts to "cripple opposition politicians".

[17] In 2011, Ravi launched a constitutional challenge in the High Court after his client, Tan Eng Hong, was arrested and charged under Section 377A of the Penal Code, which criminalises gay sex.

The landmark case raised legal issues concerning human rights, including the constitutionality of judicial caning, as well as the reviewability of the clemency process and the exercise of prosecutorial discretion.

Ravi later acted for the death row inmates Norasharee Gous (who was later executed in 2022) and Gobi Avedian, who were the second and third cases in Singapore's legal history which the Court of Appeal had agreed to reopen and review.

The disciplinary tribunal of the Law Society later found that Ravi should be fined at least S$10,000, finding him guilty of two charges of misconduct under the Legal Profession Act.

A month later, he filed a civil suit on Gobi's behalf against a number of prosecutors, alleging that they had abused their powers and acted in bad faith.

[35] The Law Society appealed the decision to the Supreme Court, which, on 22 March 2023, found Ravi guilty of misconduct and suspended him from practice for five years.

[37][38][39][40] On 16 December 2020, Ravi was charged with criminal defamation after he published a post on his Facebook page alleging that Minister for Law K. Shanmugam "controls" Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon.

On 3 March 2021, the Attorney-General's Chambers issued a warning to Ravi in lieu of continuing the criminal proceedings, after he deleted the post, apologised, and undertook not to repeat the allegations.

The court said that Ravi had brought an application without any real basis, misrepresented certain facts in his affidavit, and made baseless allegations against Syed Suhail's former lawyer without giving him a chance to respond.

[51] Mark Findlay, a law professor at the Singapore Management University, describes Ravi as a "respected human rights advocate".

The case drew the attention of international activists,[55][56] including Richard Branson, who criticised the court's decision and Singapore's use of the death penalty.

[3][4] In October 2023, police reports were made against Ravi and Iris Koh after they allegedly published multiple social posts during the cooling-off period for the 2023 Singaporean presidential election.

"[50] In November 2017, whilst on a manic episode, Ravi broke into Eugene Thuraisingam's law firm, where he had previously worked, and assaulted Jeannette Chong-Aruldoss and another lawyer.

[71][64] In July 2023, Ravi was charged with assault and disorderly behaviour in public for allegedly slapping a man and shouting at Yio Chu Kang MRT station.

In issuing the sentence, the District Judge did not consider Ravi's bipolar disorder mitigating due to his poor management of the condition and a history of previous offences.

In the judgment, the High Court ruled that although Ravi had a hypomanic episode when he made the contemptuous statement, his bipolar disorder would not be greatly considered in mitigation.

The trial judge Hoo Sheau Peng decided that Ravi's condition did not materially affect his decision-making ability, and found that he had not been compliant with his medication regime.