Legal Advisor to the President of Nepal & Advisor, Kathmandu University School of Law

Professor (Dr) Surya Dhungel is a senior advocate and a constitutional legal advisor to the President of Nepal. He is the member of Kathmandu University School of Law Planning Advisory Committee.

Dhungel joined Nepal Bar Association in 1976 and started his law practice with his father at the District and Appeal level courts in Janakpurdham, south-eastern part of Nepal. Since 1977, he has been practising law at the Supreme Court in Kathmandu except the period between 1999 and 2006 when he took up a job with the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNOHCHR) in Cambodia. In 2004, he was seconded to the United Nations Mission in Liberia for two years as Rule of Law Adviser (Human Rights). On his return from Liberia on 'special leave without pay' in June 2006, he contributed to the constitution building support program of the UNDP Nepal as Senior Project Manager for 18 months.

In the past Dhungel served at the Faculty of Law, Tribhuvan University, in Kathmandu for over 22 years as Professor until he voluntarily took retirement from the faculty in 1999. During his active years of teaching and practising law, he contributed to the constitution making of 1990 constitution through a participatory constitution making project as President of a leading national NGO, called LEADERS-Nepal. Following the promulgation of 1990 Constitution, he undertook the task of sensitizing the parliamentarians about their roles and responsibilities through a parliament strengthening program of the Society for Parliamentary and Constitutional Exercises (SCOPE), as founding member and President. During this period, he also took a lead role as pro bono lawyer to initiate public interest litigation at the Supreme Court of Nepal in the area resource conservation, human rights and the rule of law.

Dr. Dhungel holds LLM and PhD degrees in constitutional law, and has received advance training in the areas of human rights, water law and conservation management from Italy, Netherlands and USA. He co-authored two leading books on the Nepalese Constitution and legal system in English, and published several articles on contemporary legal issues.