Planning For Your Law Practice

So, you have decided to start your own law practice.  By now, you may have some idea of how to manage a law practice – monthly overheads ie rent, staffing, salaries, office upkeep, expenses and above all, getting clients.  Y...

The Importance of Time Management

As they say, time is money.  Time is like a commodity, where you can never replace it, once it’s gone.  People always complain that there is never enough time, in fact there is plenty of it to go around – 24 hours in f...

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&...

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...

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...

The Experiences of a Dinosaur in the Age of Zoom

The article was first published by Lockton Consulting. First, a bit of context. I started chambering in 1982 and was called to the Bar in 1983; In 1982, law firms did not have fax machines or emails; If you wanted to call overseas you had ...

Practice Management & Mental Health: Moving Forward to the Next Level

The transformation in managing a law practice in the era of Covid-19 has come rapidly and unexpectedly.  Prior procedures and systems put in place are now to be redesigned to adapt to the new normal in providing legal services.  Firms will ...

Case Study: Always Be On Your Toes

Chuckie, a partner at Messrs Finster and Associates (“IP”) acted for Tommy, the purchaser in a sale and purchase of a property. The property was charged to Bank ABC as a security for the loan extended to Angelica, the vendor in the transa...

Case Study: To Rest In Peace

Tina, a sole proprietor of Messrs Belcher & Co. (“IP”) was instructed by Teddy, her good friend who was terminally ill to convey a few properties owned by him to his family members. Teddy had two families from two separate marriages a...

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...

The Skinny On Checklists

Having an Ace Up Your Sleeve in Rough Times

Every fortnight at Kerry & Associates, partners of the firm would select clients’ files at random to check if there are any discrepancies in them. This practice acts as a risk management measure to find any discrepancies in a file as well a...

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...

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 Dreaded C - Conflict of Interest: The Essentials

In this final instalment of The Dreaded C - Conflict of Interest' series, focus will shift to the essentials of a conflict system, they are applicable whether you maintain a record book or a computerised system.  Essentials Of A Confl...

Conflict of Interest: The Dreaded C

  The Scene  New client coming recommended by a fellow lawyer; client is an up and coming Corporation.  The Matter Potential new client is aggrieved over a matt...

An Unlikely Risk: The Non-Client

Advocates and solicitors owe many duties to their clients, but generally do not owe duties to the public while performing  their obligations to their clients.  It is paramount, therefore, that an advocate and solicitor be able to disting...