Alert | Scams Tarnishing Law Firm's Name

In May 2024, a law firm informed the Bar Council that there had been incidents of a scammer appropriating and misusing the name of their law firm.  Victims of the scam called the law firm’s office to enquire about tenancy agreements that h...

Beware of WhatsApp Scams: You May Be Their Next Victim

Nip It in the Bud – Preventing Embezzlement and Internal Fraud

In 2022, there were four notifications made to the Insurer regarding the embezzlement of client account monies by staff of law firms.    In these cases, the monies were embezzled by the conveyancing or accounts clerks and, in one instance...

Frauds and Scams — Increasing Awareness

There are various terms used around information security.  Cyber security, for example, may sound like the stuff of science fiction or, to some, the stuff of scaremongering or sales pitches.  Whatever terms are used, the objectives are esse...

Stakeholder Duty – What it is and what does it impose on you?

The word “stake” is in common parlance used to apply to any money to be disposed of, in accordance with what may happen in future, and whoever is in possession of the money is often described as a stakeholder.   Lawyers are frequen...

External Fraud and Scams

Sadly, we are all exposed to frauds and scams in our business and personal lives.  On a UK website, ActionFraud, lists a large number of types of frauds and scams which have afflicted businesses of every type, including the following:  &nb...

Frauds and Scams — Increasing Awareness

Many of us, and many businesses, have a tendency to under-estimate the risk of being affected by fraud.  The unfortunate reality is that more and more of us are being affected personally, whether by identity theft, cloning of a credit card, or a...

The AMLA For You And For Me

Investigation and prosecution against advocates & solicitors under the Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001 (“AMLA”) is growing by the day.  Charges and punishments under...

Device Loss Remains a Key Data Breach Risk

In October 2017 a member of the public discovered a USB stick on the streets of West London. Worryingly it contained sensitive information on security arrangements at Heathrow Airport. The data held on the device was not encrypted, neither was i...

Asia moves towards tougher data breach rules

From JLT Group’s Specialty Insights which can be found at https://www.asia.jlt.com/our-insights/cyber-decoder/asia-moves-towards-tougher-data-breach-rules Asia moves towards tougher data breach rules A massive data breach in Malaysia ...

An Internal Audit Strategy for Law Firms

AN INTERNAL AUDIT STRATEGY FOR LAW FIRMS[1]   Firms should do all they can to be proactive and be able to demonstrate a robust process and structure to manage different types of risks. An internal audit is definitely an area that deserves incr...

Case Study: But We Are No Longer Together!

Emily and Victoria were the founding partners of Messrs Grayson & Co, the Insured Practice (“IP”). After some time in the partnership, there were some disagreements about the Firm’s business plan, eventually driving a wedge bet...

Case Study: Maybe I Wasn’t Ready…

Alexis began her legal career as a legal assistant at Messrs Morello & Associates where she befriended Piper, a senior legal assistant at the firm. When Piper left Messrs Morello & Associates to set up her own firm, Messrs Chapman & Co, A...

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...

Case Study: Under Observation

After several years of practice, Max, a legal assistant at Messrs Channing & Associate, the Insured Practice (“IP”) was offered to be a partner of the Firm by Caroline, the sole proprietor of the Firm at that time. Max had been handli...

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 ...

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...

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...

Case Study: Riding out the Storm with Risk Management

Connor & Partners was established by Olivia and Peter Connor in 2003. They are a law firm that specialises purely in conveyancing matters. One day, Olivia visited the Inland Revenue Department (“IRD”) to get a stamp for her client&rsq...

A Family Affair – Keep It Seperate!

Messrs King & Partners was established in 2007 by Anna King and her partner, Henry. In 2009, Anna decided to further her studies in Australia, leaving the firm under the care of Henry and their accounts clerk, Teri. As part of checks and balan...