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Article Index

Practice Alert Article 

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...

Alert | Exploitation of Sale and Purchase Agreements

Circular No 169/2023 Dated 20 Jun 2023 Dated The Bar Council recently reviewed five notifications received by the Malaysian Bar Professional Indemnity Insurance (“PII”) Scheme Insurer relating to the misuse of sale and purchase...

Alert | Accountant’s Reports Prepared by Unqualified Persons

Circular No 141/2023 Dated 16 May 2023 The Bar Council has recently been made aware of several Accountant’s Reports that had been prepared by unqualified individuals.    The discovery was made during the renewal process f...

Alert | Embezzlements Involving Support Staff

Circular No 045/2023 Dated 23 Feb 2023 The Bar Council has recently been made aware of a series of embezzlements that have been perpetrated by law firm support staff.  This information was conveyed to us by the Advocates and Soli...

Law Practice Preparedness Plan in the Event of an Unforeseen Closure

The suggested Law Practice Preparedness Plan is hoped to minimise the risk to your law practice during the nation’s Movement Control Order[1] due to Covid-19 that will take effect starting 18 Mar until 31 Mar 2020.    In preparation...

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...

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 ...

Practice Alert: Bogus Customer Service Calls From Software Companies

Facts: It has come to the Bar Council’s attention that a legal firm recently received a bogus phone call purporting to be from a reputable software company’s customer service.  The bogus caller had full details of the legal firm&rsq...

Practice Alert: Legal Firm Scammed into Releasing Client’s Money to Fraudster

Circular No 137/2014 Dated 1 July 2014 To Members of the Malaysian Bar Practice Alert: Legal Firm Scammed into Releasing Client’s Money to Fraudster It has come to Bar Council’s attention that a legal fir...

Email Scams and Fraudulent Schemes by Unauthorised Persons

Bar Council is concerned about the growing number of reports and complaints received in relation to persons who hold themselves out as being authorised to offer legal services to the general public, or who masquerade as advocates and solicitors re...

Partnerships of (In)convenience: You’re Liable Too

Partnership/pahrt-ner-ship/ (noun): The relation which subsists between persons carrying on business in common with a view of profit.[1] In West Malaysia, there are 5,786[2] law firms in operation, 48.75% are partnerships. Of...

EPF Fraudulent Withdrawals

Facts: A syndicate, possibly involving EPF members/third parties submit false documents on behalf of an EPF Member to facilitate the approval of withdrawals from the member's funds in Account II (Housing).   The third party offers...

Forgery of Cheques

HOW TO REDUCE RISK OF FORGERY OF CHEQUES? Ask yourself these 10 questions about your firm's financial and accounting practices. Do you or your partners: Regularly ask for status reports from your accounts staff? Exercise ...

Case Study: How Did They Do It?

Old Files Senior Conveyancing Clerk in Firm A had full run of the firm’s Conveyancing files.  Firm did not have a standard file review system, there was no supervision exercised over the senior clerk nor did the lawyer conduct regul...

Fraud… Are You Next?

“No, it won’t happen to my firm! We’re always careful…”   A common statement when reading articles of this nature.  Nevertheless, news headlines of recent months forecast a challenging year ahead - rece...

Employee Fraud: How to Spot A Potential ‘Thief'...

Record-setting fuel prices, inflation, world recession and commodity shortages which have financial impact on our day-to-day living are common headlines in newspapers today.  During such times statistics reveal a sharp increase in employee fr...

Employee Embezzlement Of Legal Firm’s Funds Office & Client Accounts

Employee embezzlement is a growing threat to legal firms. Members should be alerted to the fact that in 2007 and 2008, there was an increase in the number of employee embezzlement cases (as reported by several legal firms to the Insurer of the Pll...

Employee Embezzlement - Is Your Firm at Risk?

The list of questions below are non-exhaustive, they are basic safeguards that all firms should implement, if they have not already.   DO YOU: Request for status reports periodically from your accounts staff? Status...