Lawyers at Social Events: Be Careful of What You Say outside the Courtroom

I’m sure this sounds familiar — you’ve had a long tiring week of going back and forth to court and reviewing countless paperwork.  So now you attend an event to unwind or catch up with some friends and the next thing you know &...

Enhancing Communication Practices in Law Firms

From individual clients to companies big or small, lawyers communicate with a lot of people on a daily basis.  The operational efficiency of a law firm lies in the cohesiveness of the firm’s communication environment.  Enhan...

Telecommuting in Times of COVID-19

Telecommuting was a buzzword being bandied about by law firms, aimed at attracting and retaining millennial lawyers.  The flexibility to work from home was a recruiting tool in a competitive talent market.  The COVID-19 pandemic has set a n...

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...

Brainstorming

How often have you among your workmates?  Even if you did not realise it, you would have probably done so at least once in your daily life.  Brainstorming has been used to find solutions and come up with ways and suggestions to pr...

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 ...

Musings of A Mediator

I first trained as a mediator under the Malaysian Mediation Centre in 2010. I was immediately drawn to the concept of strategic resolution of disputes which is the goal in any mediation. I followed my Malaysian training with a mediation training prog...

Managing Clients’ Expectations During the Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted all aspects of the economy in ways we never imagined and law firms are not exempted from the brunt.  While most economic sectors have resumed to its usual business and is gradually recovering from the aftermat...

Mediation as an Alternative Dispute Resolution

Mediation is a form of alternative dispute resolution that is gaining attention.  The benefits of mediation are: Less time-consuming: quick, efficient and easy (most mediations can be concluded within a working day); Costs less: inexpensiv...

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 ...

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: Gone With The Wind

Messrs Underwood & Partners, the Insured Practice (“IP”) was established in 1996. The Firm’s main office in Petaling Jaya was managed by Frank and the branches in Ipoh and Johor Bahru were managed by Claire and Douglas respectiv...

Are You Online?

Cyber Crime Attacks Against Law Firms

Earlier this year, over 40 law firms in North America were victims of a group of what many believe, were Russian online hackers, bent on scrummaging terabytes-worth of data for insider trading purposes and other malicious intent. Most of these firms ...

Technology for Sole Proprietors & New Start-Ups

The dress and vocabulary of a lawyer may seem archaic to most but that shouldn’t prevent you from embracing the 21st century. While a majority of law firms will not have the resources nor the expertise to develop artificial intelligence to ou...

The Ransomware Scourge

The ransomware virus is a particularly malicious virus, that once enabled, will encrypt the data on all your computer and the computer systems that your computer is attached to, rendering it unusable. The end user will receive a message demanding a r...

Cyber Crimes - Lawyers Are Not Spared

Raymond Reddington of Messrs Reddington and Co, the Insured Practice (“IP”) acted on behalf of Pavlovich Private Limited Company (“the client”) in a cross border transaction.  The other party was represented by Elizabeth ...

Delivering the Goods: The Duty of a Stakeholder

Lawyers who become stakeholders in conveyancing transactions have a duty to hold the monies or documents deposited to them on behalf of either the vendor or the purchaser until the conclusion of certain transactions. In Toh Theam Hock v Kemajuan...

Case Study: Leave No Stone Unturned

Messrs Turner and Associates (“IP”) was the panel lawyer for Bank ABC and handled commercial loan transactions for the bank. In 2013, Cosmo Property Pty Ltd (“Cosmo”) approached the bank to get a commercial loan of RM1,700,000...