Said Pullicino was born in Sliema on 16th January 1937. He studied at the Lyceum and the Royal University of Malta where he graduated BA. (Hons.) in History in 1958 and Doctor of Laws (LL.D) in 1961. He went into private practice with George Degaetano & Associates and as a partner of Demarco & Associates for over 25 years; he practised extensively in the fields of civil and commercial law. He served on various government committees set up to advise on reforms in the administration of justice and court management. Said Pullicino was appointed Commissioner of Justice and later Chairman of one of the Commissions for the investigation of injustices, a post he retained for a number of years even after his appointment as Judge in 1990. He sat mostly in the Civil Courts where he also presided over constitutional cases involving human rights. He was sworn in as Chief Justice in July 1995, and in this position he presided over the Constitutional Court, the Court of Appeal, the Court of Criminal Appeal and other courts.
He was for eight years Malta’s representative on the Venice Commission for Democracy through Law of the Council of Europe. In this capacity he was appointed rapporteur on the judicial systems of a number of emerging democracies including Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia and the Ukraine. Said Pullicno was also nominated expert on a number of issues of general interest to democratic development. He submitted opinions for the consideration of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on various subjects, including, internal security services and human rights and the drafting of guidelines on the prohibition of political parties.
Many of his contributions have been published in official publications of the Venice Commission. He was delegated by the Commission to participate in various conferences in which the relationship between Supreme Courts and Constitutional Courts was discussed.
As Chief Justice he was ex officio Vice President of the Council for the Administration of Justice. He retired in January 2002. In April of that year he was appointed Chairman of the Broadcasting Authority.
He is married to Geraldine Micallef and they have one daughter, Lara