Article Index

Alert | Dangerous Breaches Causing Alarm

The Advocates and Solicitors Disciplinary Board (“ASDB”) has recently received a complaint of misconduct within a legal practice, exposing severe breaches of ethical and legal standards.  The findings raise concerns not only about pu...

Declutter Your Office

Alert | Engaging Beyond Handshakes

Every single client-solicitor relationship you enter without a Letter of Engagement is a ticking time bomb waiting to go off.  Issuing a Letter of Engagement at the start of every client-solicitor relationship is essential.  The Advocate...

Legally Married but Judicially Separated

Judicial separation offers a legal avenue for married couples in Malaysia to live separately without terminating their marriage through divorce.  This option can be particularly appealing for those who, for various reasons — religious, cul...

The Power of Inquiry: How Lawyers Master Unfamiliar Fields Through Targeted Questioning

This article first appeared on KataEzri at kataezri.wordpress.com.  Copyright © 2023   Reprinted with permission from the author.   Embracing Curiosity: A Lawyer’s Approach to Learning In the diverse world of law, att...

Interviewing New Clients for Facts

This article first appeared on From the Bar Stool at fromthebarstool.life.  Copyright © 2023   Reprinted with permission from the author.   When meeting a client for the first time, I tell my younger colleagues they need to ...

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...

Navigating Beyond the Courtroom: Essential Skills for Managing a Law Practice

While proficiency in law is the cornerstone of a successful legal career, managing a law practice demands a broader skill set. This article delves into the multifaceted aspects of running a law firm, highlighting the skills beyond legal acumen that a...

Alert | Do Not Give Guarantees

A complaint was lodged by the family member of an accused where a Member had given a guarantee that the accused would be released from prison and acquitted of the criminal charge.   It was discovered that the Member has been conducting his dea...

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...