As mentioned in our previous post, we have participated in the 2nd legal career convention this year.

The LCC was jointly organised by United Kingdom Malaysian Student Law Union (KPUM) and the Law Society of University of Malaya (UM) and officiated by Y.B Dato’ Ngeh Koo Ham (Alumni of Faculty of Law, UM 1985).

LCC started at 9am till 5pm. Aprt from visiting the participanting booths, the visitors can also attend a series of legal seminars.

“In conjunction with the Opening Ceremony, Dato’ Ngeh Koo Ham was invited to give a speech entitled Judicial crisis in Malaysia”

“The president of the Law Society of UM, Kiang Lee Lian”

“[from left] Professor Dr. Cheong May Fong (Dean of UM law faculty), Dato’ Ngeh Koo Ham and wife, Eddie Law (eLawyer)”

“eLawyer’s representative were ready for the day!- [from left] Leanne, Gerald and Christine”

“our representative was answering visitors enquiries”

“Leanne was introducing our law portal to a law lecturer”

“Christine was explaining about our Legal Blog Writing Contest“

 “Entrance to the LLC”

There were 16 law firms and 7 non law firms participated in this year LCC namely:

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By Lee Shih

Thirteen thousand. That is roughly the number of lawyers currently practising in Malaysia. It gives the impression that there are more than enough lawyers here. So why should we worry if a few hundred, or even a thousand, lawyers leave the profession to work in other jurisdictions?

Around 1,000 new lawyers join the profession annually so shouldn’t there be plenty of legal talent here in this country?

There is, however, cause for worry. Increasingly, law firms are complaining of a general decline in the quality of lawyers entering the profession. Our brightest and best law graduates are choosing instead to practise in other countries.

Further, the pace of lawyers leaving Malaysia for other jurisdictions like Singapore, Hong Kong and the Middle East appears to have also accelerated, and this exacerbates the legal brain drain that we are facing.

In her Putik Lada article ‘Not as Glamorous as Boston Legal’ (The Star, Aug 15), Melissa Tai touched on some of the problems the profession faces in attracting and retaining legal talent. What I will be setting out is a wish list of sorts and some solutions to this problem.

Wish List

At the top of any lawyer’s wish list would be the obvious factor of higher pay. Undoubtedly, other jurisdictions offer a significantly more attractive remuneration package, even after factoring in the higher cost of living.

It is accepted that present market forces result in relatively low legal fees being charged, which in turn contributes to a relatively low amount of pay compared with other jurisdictions.

The difficulty in attracting lawyers to stay in Malaysia goes beyond the issue of pay. One of the strong appeals of working overseas is the opportunity to be exposed to more international and high-calibre work. There is no easy answer to this, as other countries like Singapore, for example, also grapple with the same issue of lawyers leaving for this reason.

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Following the Legal Career Fair organised by KL Bar this February, we are going to participate in another legal career convention on 6 September 2008. This time we are invited by the United Kingdom Malaysian Student Law Union (KPUM), who orgainses this event together with the Law Society of University of Malaya, to partake in its annul legal event.

The detail of the legal career convention:

Date: 6 September 2008 (Saturday)

Venue: Law Faculty, University of Malaya

Time: 8am to 5pm

We were also told that there will be a series of legal seminars conducted through out the convention. Among others, the most interesting topic is the “Common Bar Examination” and eLawyer is invited to give our feedback and opinion at the end of the session. 

Please drop by our booth located at the foyer of the UM law faculty to visit us or to just say hello to us.

Again, we will be giving out mystery gift for those who sign up at our booth.

Below is the letter sent to us by the organiser, which states the detail of the legal career convention: 

LAW CAREER CONVENTION 2008 (LCC 2008)

The United Kingdom Malaysian Student Law Union, or the Kesatuan Penuntut Undang-undang Malaysia di UK dan Eire (KPUM) and the Law Society of University of Malaya are co-organising the annual Law Career Convention again this year. The tentative date and venue is as follows:
Date: 6th September 2008
Venue: Law Faculty, University of Malaya

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Throughout January 2008, eLawyer.com.my has been actively reaching out to the legal community, by setting up booths in law schools and law career fairs. During our promotional drive, we have conducted a survey about the community’s perspective on legal career prospects. The two main questions asked were concerning the factors that they looked for when choosing a law firm to work for, and whether they thought the legal profession is being paid as well as it should be.

A total of 602 participants did the survey. They comprised of 524 law students (97%), 48 lawyers (8%), 19 pupils or paralegals (3%) and 10 people from the general public (2%). A careful analysis on the survey results reveal some surprises.

The first question required the participant to rank the importance (5 = most important, 1 = least important) of the following criteria in choosing a law firm or company to work for, namely:
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