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Elevate


What Is ELEVATE?
 
ELEVATE is the official risk management programme of the Malaysian Bar and was launched at the 77th Annual General Meeting of the Malaysian Bar on 16 Mar 2024.  The purpose of ELEVATE is to encourage Members of the Bar to adopt risk management in carrying out their legal practice, which can improve their services as a whole.
 
Why Is ELEVATE Necessary?
 
With increasing number of notifications made under the Malaysian Bar Professional Indemnity
Insurance (“PII”) Scheme over the years, the Bar became aware of the need to provide more focus on and investment in risk management, which would help reduce negligence claims against lawyers.  An effective and efficient risk management programme would pave the way towards fewer claims against Members of the Bar and would give the Bar an advantage when negotiating the terms of its annual PII.  The programme would also contribute towards increasing the calibre of legal services, thus making law firms more competitive and attractive to potential clients.
 
In 2023, the Bar launched a risk management initiative. As part of this initiative, the Bar conducted an extensive claims review stretching back over 20 years to identify common trends and root causes of professional liability claims against lawyers. The Bar found that the top three areas that are exposed to risks of professional liability claims are civil litigation (30.50%), residential conveyancing (25.77%) and commercial conveyancing (20.90%). These are the three most prominent areas of practice for most firms and account for 77% of all notifications issued by Members of the Bar.
 
The main claims incidents in these areas of practice were lawyers acting in breach of conveyancing practice (12%), lawyers in breach of stakeholder’s duty (11%), lawyers failing to advise clients (9%), and even fraudulent actions by lawyers (8%)!
 
The claims data analysis further revealed that 4.3% of all notifications had stemmed from various forms of misconduct. The top three misconducts are embezzlement by staff, embezzlement by a partner / sole proprietor, and dishonesty by a sole proprietor.
 
The data has shown that a significant number of these incidents may have been avoided with better risk management practices in place. Indeed, poor risk management has resulted not only in claims against lawyers, but also in criminal proceedings, disciplinary actions such as suspension, disbarment, fines, and penalties, as well as loss of professional reputation.
 
Guided by the data gathered, the Bar recognised that there is a crucial need for a structured and specific risk management programme that would protect the legal practice and, in the process, elevate the quality and standards of legal services provided by law firms.
 
This led to the inception and launching of ELEVATE as the official Malaysian Bar risk management programme in March 2024.
 
How Will ELEVATE Benefit Law Firms and the Legal Profession?
 
ELEVATE will help create greater awareness of risk among Members of the Bar and encourage the implementation of risk management in daily legal practice. It will help Members of the Bar avoid common pitfalls in legal services and achieve the best possible outcomes for law firms and their clients.
 
By helping law firms mitigate risk exposure and prevent adverse events, ELEVATE will also collectively reduce the frequency and severity of claims under the PII Scheme, contribute towards a sustainable premium, and prepare Members of the Bar for the Professional Indemnity Fund (“PIF”) Scheme.
 
In time, we hope that ELEVATE will result in international recognition of Malaysian law firms as efficient, well-managed, and capable of handling work on par with other jurisdictions, thus paving the way for all our law firms to be recognised for their quality and standard of legal services.
 
What is the Long-Term Plan for ELEVATE?
 
The long-term plan is to help improve the operations of law firms, starting with small-to medium-sized firms. With ELEVATE, law firms will be able to improve their operations by identifying gaps, opportunities, and areas for improvement, as well as setting realistic and achievable goals in order to differentiate their services and become more competitive and attractive to potential clients.
 
Eventually, law firms will also be encouraged to sign up for the ELEVATE programme as “risk aware law firms”.  Law firms using the guides produced under ELEVATE or similarly comprehensive guides will be recognised for their dedication to risk management.
 
This is an initiative by the Bar Council Joint Working Committee on ELEVATE.  For more information, please contact the Professional Indemnity and Risk Management Department by telephone at 03-2050 2001, or by email at pirm@malaysianbar.org.my.