Early life

Mr. Maharaj had over 30 years experience in the legal profession having been admitted to practice at the English Bar in 1967. He had been in private practice as Senior Partner in the chambers of Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj and Company. He had also been admitted to practice as an attorney in St Vincent and the Grenadines (1990) and Grenada

Grenada

Grenada is an island country and Commonwealth Realm consisting of the island of Grenada and six smaller islands at the southern end of the Grenadines in the southeastern Caribbean Sea...

 (1993). He is the author of several publications including a booklet entitled "Rule of Law in Trinidad and Tobago."

Member of Parliament

Maharaj first entered the Parliament of Trinidad and Tobago

Parliament of Trinidad and Tobago

The Parliament of Trinidad and Tobago is the legislative branch of the Government of Trinidad and Tobago. The Parliament is bicameral. It consists of the elected House of Representatives, which has 43 members elected for a five year term in single-seat constituencies, and the Senate which has 31...

 as a Temporary Opposition Senator in August 1991, towards the end of the 3rd Republican Parliament. Later that year, he was elected to the House of Representatives

House of Representatives of Trinidad and Tobago

The House of Representatives is the elected Lower House of the bicameral Parliament of Trinidad and Tobago. The House of Representatives sits in the Red House in Port of Spain. It has 41 members, each elected to represent single-seat constituencies...

 in 1991 as the Member for Couva South, where he served as Opposition Chief Whip. In 1995 he again contested and won the Couva South seat, and shortly thereafter was appointed Attorney General, a position he held until October 2001, having again faced the polls in 2000.

He was sworn in as Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs

Attorney General

In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general, or attorney-general, is the main legal advisor to the government, and in some jurisdictions he or she may also have executive responsibility for law enforcement or responsibility for public prosecutions.The term is used to refer to any person...

 on December 19, 2000. As Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Mr Maharaj is assigned the responsibility for the Registrar General, Administrator General, Copyright, Patents, Trademarks, Public Trustee, Intellectual Property, Law Reform and Revision, Legislative Drafting and Rent Restriction as well as appointments to Quasi Judicial Bodies. He is also the Official and Provisional Receiver, Provisional Liquidator and Custodian of Enemy Property.

In 2008, Mr. Maharaj contested and won the Tabaquite constituency for the UNC-A, and has reprised the role of Chief Whip in the 9th Republican Parliament.

Personal life

Mr Maharaj is married to Lynette Maharaj and is the father of one son and twin daughters. Maharaj also leads the Trinidad and Tobago Civil Rights Association.