What to Bear in Mind when Advising a Franchisee on a Franchise Agreement and Franchise Regulatory Requirements in Malaysia

Franchising is a popular business model for Malaysian entrepreneurs due to its ease of entry and the benefits it offers. Despite the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, Malaysia's franchise industry witnessed an 8% growth in 2020, and the number...

Key Terms in a Shipbuilding Contract (Part 1)

Introduction Accounting for around 90% of traded goods, shipping is the lifeblood of world trade.  To match global demand, the shipbuilding industry has grown to an estimated USD132.52 billion in 2021 and is anticipated to grow to USD175.98 b...

Key Points in Drafting a Ship Sale Agreement (Part II)

Introduction   This Part of the Article discusses the salient terms that are advised to be present in a Ship Sale Agreement.     Parties do not need to draft the terms from scratch since there are many standard forms of Ship S...

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...

Contract Review and Risk Management

What is the correlation between contract review and risk management?    Contract review including drafting, is one of the main and inevitable job scopes of a corporate legal practitioner or an in-house legal counsel (“Legal Counsel&...

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...

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")...

The AMLA For You And For Me

Investigation and prosecution against advocates & solicitors under the Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001 (“AMLA”) is growing by the day.  Charges and punishments under...

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...

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...

Know Your Client: Pre, Present and Prevention

Fraud lies hid in general expressions The general rule of the internet is to never believe everything you read; however, in the context of fraud on a law firm or lawyer, there are many plausible ways of this occurring.  Zooming in...

The Retention and Destruction of Closed Files

The Retention and Destruction of Closed Files   With the Personal Data Protection Act 2010 (“the PDPA”) having come into force on 15 November 2013, law firms are all the more obliged to take practical steps in preventing any &ldquo...

Case Study: Avoiding Corporate Negligence

“Negligence is the rust of the soul, that corrodes through all her best resolves.”  -          Owen Feltham   It only takes a snail to create a landmark case in neglige...