Get Your Diary and Calendar Organised

The busy life of a lawyer places many demands on their time.  One has to keep track of court appearances, client appointments, deadlines, and telephone calls, to name a few.  Without a system to organise all these items and more, life can b...

How to Avoid Stakeholder Issues

Lawyers may often find themselves in a position of trust with their clients, for example when the lawyer acts as a stakeholder-solicitor or as an escrow agent for an agreement between two or more parties.   They will find themselves ca...

Prevention Is Better Than Cure – “It Wasn’t Me!”

Let’s do it the best way! The subject matter of better risk management continues from last issue of ‘Prevention Is Better Than Cure’ to share simple learning points to ensure that our members take pre-emptive measures to prevent ...

Are You Out of Time? – Beware of Limitation Dates and Time Limits

Case Study Lawyer X was appointed by the client for the recovery of damages for unpaid services rendered arising from breach of contract. Lawyer X advised the client to attempt out of court settlement negotiations to reduce litigation costs. Negotia...

Case Study: When It Rains It Pours

Danny Fenton of Messrs Fenton and Co (“IP”) acted for Jasmine, the purchaser in a conveyancing transaction to prepare the SPA. The vendor, Maddie was not represented but was assisted by her daughter and son-in law. After the deposit was p...

The Skinny On Checklists

Failure to Follow Client’s Instructions

Messrs Keating & Co, the Insured Practice (“IP”), represented both the Purchaser and Vendor in a Sale and Purchase Agreement (“SPA”). The property in question was charged to Furama Bank as a security for a loan given 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...

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...

Best Practice Tips

Risk Management or Best Practices, whatever you may call it within your firm is a double-edged sword.  It improves the quality of your legal service by ensuring that you deliver the best to your clients, this gives you the edge over your competi...

Your failure to cooperate could jeopardise your PII claim! (PII Scheme Did You Know Series)

Your failure to cooperate could jeopardise your PII claim! Any insurance policy is a contract between two parties where the Insurer agrees to provide indemnity to the Insured subject to specific terms and conditions.  One of the conditions of y...

Tackle the Time Crunch

Martha M Newman is an Executive and Professional Coach who helps attorneys build leadership skills, enhance business performance and advance their professional careers.  This article was taken from Top Lawyer Coach, LLC and has been reproduced w...

Quick Glance: Limitation Periods

Section Description Limitation Period 6 (1) (a) Actions founded on a contract or tort     6 years 6 (1) (b) Actions to e...

To Do of Conveyancing

There is no one way in dealing with risks.  It is best to find ways and avoid any risks.  Conflicts are Everywhere You may be acting for a friend or family member in some matters, put relationship aside and ask yourself: ...

Sample Letter of Acknowledgement

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF LEGAL REPRESENTATION To: [firm of solicitors concerned]   Re: Loan/facility amount: RM…………..        Financier:        Borrower(s): ...

The No 1 Cause of Claims - Litigation : The Statistics

But why? There are many sub-causations contributing to the above.  Among them are: 1. Broken Communications. 2. Bad Time Management. 3. Poor Legal Knowledge.

Do’s & Don’ts of Litigation Practice

COMMUNICATION DO’S Record everything in black and white.  More so telephone conversations where the client verbally instructs you.  Before you act on their instruction, have the client sign-off the written instructions,...

Case Closed: What Do I Do With The File Now?

Whilst most lawyers do not expect it when they begin their careers; documents (and paperwork) tend to dominate most law firms.  In a 2003 survey conducted by the American Bar Association, lawyers reported that one of their greatest disappointmen...