Article Index

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...

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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...

Case Study: Always Do The Spadework

Messrs Korra and Associates (“IP”) was named as the Third Defendant in a writ filed by a Claimant who claimed that the IP was involved in a conspiracy to defeat the execution of an arbitration award against the First Defendant. It all ...

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...

Case Study: Present Here But Not There

Messrs Wakeman and Carbuckle (“IP”) represented the purchaser, Sheldon to prepare the SPA for a residential property. The Vendor, Tremorton Pty Ltd (“Tremorton”) was unrepresented. Two months after the execution of the SPA, Sh...

The Skinny On Checklists

Case Study: Avoid Skating on Thin Ice

The Insurers received a notification from Chloe, on behalf of Messrs Mark & Partners. Chloe, a partner in the firm, notified the two letters of demand that she received from her firm’s clients alleging breach of stakeholders’ duty by ...

Dispute on Legal Fees

Lindsey retained Messrs Kline & Partners to represent her in a divorce settlement. By an agreement, Lindsey paid RM20,000 to Kline & Partners as the retainer fee and should the matter proceed to the Court of Appeal, further legal fees will be...

Honesty is Still the Best Policy

Cameron was a defendant in a civil suit and had a summary judgment ordered against her at the Sessions Court. The judgment ordered Cameron to pay costs and interest to the Plaintiff amounting to RM60,000. Messrs Savard & Co was then retained by C...

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...