Managing Clients – A Lawyer’s Perspective

People shy away from certain areas but the truth is no matter how much you research on the internet, there is really no substitute for experience when it comes to dealing with clients.  And without them, who can we bill eh! Kipling alway...

Data Digital & Cyber Risks - Is Your Law Firm Sufficiently Protected?

How does your Professional Indemnity Insurance (“PII”) protect these evolving risks?   Law firms, like all businesses, are operating in and relying upon technology in an increasingly hostile digital landscape.  With the g...

Challenging A Bankruptcy Notice – Understanding The 7-Day Rule

Where a creditor has obtained final judgment against a debtor and served on him a bankruptcy notice requiring him to pay the judgment debt in accordance with the said judgment, an act of bankruptcy will be committed by operation of law in the event o...

Be Awake or Be Awakened

A law firm can come into being in compliance with the Legal Profession Act 1976. As a sole proprietorship.  As a partnership. And in near future even as a Limited Liability Partnership-Incorporated.   Partnership practice often comes...

Prevention is Better Than Cure

Legal risk is unavoidable as lawyers do make mistakes from time to time.  Therefore, taking pre-emptive measures will help to prevent any potential claims or legal disputes from errors or omissions made by the legal practice.  Proactiv...

Essential Steps When Closing Your Law Firm

There could be various reasons to close a law practice.  Maybe you are a sole practitioner joining another law practice as a partner or have decided to cease practice to become an in-house legal officer or maybe you have decided it’s time ...

The Rise of Mediation as an Alternative Dispute Resolution Tool

Mediation has been gaining prominence as an effective alternative dispute resolution tool in Malaysia especially with the enforcement of the Mediation Act 2012. Compared to litigation or arbitration, mediation is quick, efficient and inexpensive...

External Fraud and Scams

Sadly, we are all exposed to frauds and scams in our business and personal lives.  On a UK website, ActionFraud, lists a large number of types of frauds and scams which have afflicted businesses of every type, including the following:  &nb...

Legal Fees – To Be Pre-Agreed or Not? That is the Question.

First and foremost, let’s get something straight – claims against your legal practice over a dispute solely on legal fees (in most general situations) are excluded under the Malaysian Bar Professional Indemnity Insurance ("PII")...

Case Study: Under Observation

After several years of practice, Max, a legal assistant at Messrs Channing & Associate, the Insured Practice (“IP”) was offered to be a partner of the Firm by Caroline, the sole proprietor of the Firm at that time. Max had been handli...

Case Study: When the Alarm Bells Ring - A Claim on the Abuse of Process in Bankruptcy Proceedings

In 2012, Mark appointed John Doolittle of Messrs Doolittle & Associates, the Insured Practice (“IP”) to commence a bankruptcy proceeding against Lisa to enforce the Summary Judgment entered against her in 2006. Nonetheless, after the ...

The Skinny On Checklists

Keep Your Boundaries in Check

It started off as a civil suit between a stock broking company, Mazuma, and TNS Property Holdings (“TNS”). Messrs Connors, the Insured Practice (“IP”), represented TNS while Messrs Blake represented Mazuma. Blake applied to th...

Casual Conversations: A Panel Solicitor’s Point of View

In a continuation of frank conversations with stakeholders of the Malaysian Bar PII Scheme, we sit down with three Panel Solicitors (“PS”) to get their views of the Scheme and an in-depth look at their experiences so far in defending Insu...

Faiure to Timely File Notices of Appeal

Case Study 4A Messrs Thompson & Rifkin, the Insured Practice (“IP”) acted for the Defendants in a conveyancing suit. The High Court allowed for the Plaintiff’s application for summary judgment following which there is a 14-day ...

Case Study: Self Representation - Every Rose Has Its Thorn

Law firm ABC & Co was formed in 2007 as a partnership by Anna, Bryan and Calvin.  Two years later, Calvin fell out with Anna and Bryan thus deciding to dissolve their partnership, and he formed a sole proprietorship, Messrs Calvin & Co. ...

Self-Representation: Every Rose Has Its Thorn

“A man who is his own lawyer has a fool for a client” [1] – Does this apply when a lawyer is representing himself? Undeniably, majority of lawyers would assert that self-representation in their personal capacity is justified as t...

Jack of All Trades, Master of None

Karpal Singh.  Preet Bharara.  Fatou Bensouda.  When these names are mentioned, we instantly recognise them for their work done in a precise area of law. There are numerous arguments as to why being a "Jack of all tr...

An Unforgettable Experience

IP Interview No 1: The IP who had risk management in place IP were the Solicitors for their clients who were the Vendors in the Sale and Purchase Agreements (“SPAs”) for the sale of two pieces of land to the Claimant.   Bo...

Hindsight is Insight

The situations in the case studies below could have been avoided if the lawyers had implemented good practices in their firms.  CASE STUDY No 1: Don’t Forget To Remember Me – Limitation Period On 1 April 2006, John met an acc...