In light of this, Marcus Evans has announced that the much anticipated Corporate Legal Risk Management conference will be held in Kuala Lumpur from 5 to 6 September 2012. This conference aims at leveraging organisations’ mitigation processes and response strategies in minimising business exposure to today’s legal risks.

Martin Ekundayo, Region Legal & Compliance Director of Baker Hughes Asia Pacific who is one of the speakers for the conference stated that legal compliance should be embraced as a means to achieve sustainable long-term growth and profitability, rather than as a barrier to business.

Participant of this conference will gain industry insights on topics such accelerating the process of embedding compliance in place for businesses; Online and electronic social media platforms and its connection to legal risks; Aligning business culture and operations with regulatory requirements; Legal protection, support and structure during crisis management; Optimising approach to cross border litigation and managing the costs involved efficiently; Assessing the likely outcomes of disputes and the most suitable dispute resolution process; as well as discussing the impact of new acts in the Asian business environment.

According to Anneliese Reinhold, Board Member at Corporate Counsel Middle East and General Counsel and SVP Legal and Regulatory Affairs of du, an award winner for ‘Best In-House Counsel Telecoms/Media/IT Sector’ 2008 Dubai Corporate Counsel Group Awards, legal risk management is an extremely broad topic, but one which is of key relevance to businesses of all shapes and sizes in today’s post Global Financial Crisis operating environment.

Key presenters from the Corporate Legal Risk Management conference include Kuna Muno, Ethics and Compliance Chief APJ from Hewlett-Packard; David Blackmon, VP and Associate General Counsel – Upstream International Asia of Shell Eastern Petroleum; Martin Ekundayo, Region Legal & Compliance Director of Baker Hughes Asia Pacific; David Flavell, SVP and General Counsel AMEA of PepsiCo, Inc. and Anneliese Reinhold, Board Member at Corporate Counsel Middle East and General Counsel and SVP Legal and Regulatory Affairs of du.

Marcus Evans is one of the world’s leading providers and promoters of global summits, strategic conferences, professional trainings, in-Company training, business-to-business congresses, sports hospitality and on-line information. Founded in 1983, the company now employs over 3500 employees operating in 35 countries around the world. The company’s revenues are generated from clients across majority of the world’s top 1000 companies. Our international network of offices provides a one-stop shop for a company’s business intelligence, learning and training needs. For more information, please visit www.marcusevans.com.

For more information about this topic, please contact Cherrie Koay at 603-2723 6662 or email to CherrieK@marcusevanskl.com.

ALSA Malaysia, also known as Asian Law Students Association of Malaysia serve as a platform of regional law students gather and exchange intellectual thoughts and ideas which would help the association grow as a whole. The ulterior intention of the existence of such organization is also to build social network across borders in the region. To put that idea into perspective, ALSA International Conference is held annually for members all over Asia to meet at a host country and to discuss global issues of the present day.

As such, the theme for the current ALSA International Conference 2012 focuses on the issue of global sustainability. As one of the many leading global issues of the day, it is not an easy issue to be tackled with and a noble notion indeed ALSA has to have such an ambitious purview of the theme of the event.

The first 3 days of the conference centralizes tackling the issue from the academic perspective. Model United Nation, a simulator of round table talks between national representatives from members of the United Nations was conducted frequently to discuss and resolves selected issues as a whole. A mooting competition with environmental law as its theme was also conducted simultaneously in order to let universities compete on a regional scale. It is also riveting to watch this competition as all of the mooters have different points of view and certainly employed different angle of analyzing the moot question as all of them adopt a different set of culture, and thus rendering their method of presentation to be distinctively different from each other, despite the fact there are only subtle inconsistencies in terms of their thinking patterns and mentalities. All in all, the academic activities conducted throughout the conference have achieved its purpose which is to allow members of ALSA to exchange thoughts and ideas intellectually.

The remaining days of the conference exposed the participants of its lighter side as tours were arranged to various parts of the country, such as the Historical Town of Malacca, Genting Highlands and so forth. Mentally exhausted by rigorous academic activities, it is vital to have these non-academic components in place in order to tone down the formal and rigid atmosphere of the conference. As a fellow Malaysian, it is also heart-warming to see the international participants to experience the hospitality the country has to offer. It also certainly highly satisfying to acknowledge the fact that international participants appreciated every single moment they spent in the conference, especially during the farewell dinner where all participants savored their last moments in the conference together in a massive exchange of contacts, photography sessions and sing-alongs.

On a final note, ALSA International Conference 2012 has worked wonders in translating its motto into an unforgettable gathering experience, which is “ALSA Always be One”. Special thanks to all of the event’s sponsors:

Empowering the underlying principles of your financial know-how to provide sound advice and practical recommendations

Event Date: 23-24 Apr 2012
Location: Venue to be confirmed, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Many professionals in non-finance fields may feel inadequate owing to a lack of financial understanding. This two-day course will address the need and focus on the work and requirements of legal professionals. It will take delegates through from the fundamentals of finance to sophisticated financial analyses. By the end of the session, delegates will be able to demonstrate a marked improvement in their level of personal confidence when communicating about  matters involving finance and accounting.

Financial terms and jargons will be de-mystified with clear concise explanations, reinforced with short exercises. Delegates will learn to talk with confidence about matters concerning   income statements, balance sheets and cash flows. They will be able to understand the financial justifications behind major business cases and acquisitions. This engaging and interactive course will also focuses on some practical steps delegates can take to improve their influence within their organisations and add more value. An improved financial understanding will help them present their cases and make justifications for both decisions and advice. There will be numerous practical exercises and lively case studies to make the programme both interesting and relevant.

Take charge of financial decisions and succeed in their implementation attending this  dynamic and practical course.

Key Topics

- Discovering modern fundamentals of finance by understanding the nuts and bolts of financial statements

- Finding out why creative accounting is bad for the shareholders and for the business

- Clearly identifying the impact legal professionals have on businesses performance whilst adding value and promoting the role of the legal team

- Translating the link between cost pricing and breakeven

-Learning how to identify and present details of risks in elaborating on and contributing to investment decisions

For registration or an updated brochure, please contact Ms Cherrie at CherrieK@marcusevanskl.com.

In order to show our appreciation to the support of our members and to allow eLawyer members meeting face to face,

eLawyer would be organizing an eLawyer Night Gathering for year 2012.

Venue: Decanter Restaurant Section 17, Petaling Jaya  

( 5 Jalan 17/56 Seksyen 17, 46400 Petaling Jaya, Selangor
Tel: 03-7968-1300)

Date: 25th of February (Saturday)

Time: 6:30PM

Dress code: smart casual

Registration Fee: RM20 (including foods (Pork Free) and drinks)

Mode of Payment: bank in RM20 to our account as stated below on or before 15th February 2012.

Account name   : Agensi Pekerjaan ELS Sdn Bhd

Account No.       : Public Bank 3147 48 1600

(Keep the bank-in receipt to exchange for the entrance ticket at our reception on the event day)

Besides enjoying yummy Western food, notable guest and senior practitioners will be invited to share insightful thought which would be useful to many practitioners.

Limited seats available, as such, registration is based on 1st come 1st serve basis.

Please R.S.V.P by emailing your name, organisation, mobile number, position title (e.g. legal assistant or pupil in chamber & etc) to chia@elawyer.com.my on or before 22nd February 2012.

For more information on this event, please contact Chai Lin at 03- 8075 3215 or 016-234 1177.

Please click this link for location map to the restaurant.

Please see our 2010 and 2011 eLawyer Nights.

Copyright (c) 123RF Stock Photos

An interview is a process of “mutual discovery”. As such, asking questions is as important as answering questions during an interview. There are 3 reasons why you need to ask questions:

Reason 1: To Get To Know The Law Firm Better
The purpose of an interview is to allow  an employer and an applicant to know each other better.

Although you should have found out about the targeted law firm before the interview (either through online search, friends or even eLawyer), the session is a good avenue for you to clarify your doubts and make inquiries about your preliminary findings.

For example, when you browse the website of law firms, it is quite common to see the law firms claiming that they provide comprehensive legal solutions (an “all-rounded” firm), that is, they provide services in all areas of law such as litigation, conveyancing and corporate law. Quite often, you find that some of these firms may only be known for their litigation work and their so-called conveyancing and corporate law departments are small.  By asking the law firm the amount of head count in a particular department will give you a better idea what could be the bulk of portfolio, exposure or experience that you can possibly gain in the event that you will join them.

Reason 2: To Show Your Interest In The Law Firm

There are always 2 parts of an interview. The 1st part usually starts with the interviewer asking you questions in order to know you better and to assess whether you will be a suitable employee. Thereafter, the employer may tell you about the firm, its areas of practice and so on. The interviewer may conclude an interview by asking you a general question like “Is there anything else you like to know?”

This is not a good time to maintain “golden silence”. Instead, you should seize the opportunity to put forward some prepared questions and show your interest in the firm and or the job by inquiring about, your job responsibilities in  greater detail,  the expectations of the employer,  or  the firm’s future plan or direction.

Reason 3: To Demonstrate Your Maturity

Answering questions tactfully and presenting yourself well in an interview is crucial. However, asking the RIGHT questions could also give the interviewer a good impression of you. In most cases, interviewers are senior lawyers. Thus, most of them are always able to read your mind based on the questions that you have asked.

For example, if you ask about the remuneration package even before understanding the job scope, you may have given the interviewer an impression that you are more interested in the monetary reward than the job itself. Instead you should only discuss the remuneration issue when the interviewer raises it.

Lastly, though asking questions is important, be mindful that it is like a double-edged sword where asking the RIGHT questions will bring you credit. On other hand, asking the wrong questions may expose your ignorance or immaturity. Therefore, the most important rule is not to ask questions only but to ask the RIGHT QUESTIONS at the RIGHT TIME.

The author of this article is Eddie Law, Legal Recruitment Director in eLawyer.com.my, the leading legal recruitment portal in Malaysia. eLawyer Recruitment specialises in providing innovative and cost- effective recruitment solutions to law firms and corporations to meet the challenges of recruiting suitable legal candidates.

You may send your feedback on this article to eddie@elawyer.com.my

After 2 years, the Law Society of University of Malaya has again collaborating with the United Kingdom Malaysian Student Law Union (KPUM) to co-organise the annual legal career fair -Law Career Convention 2011 (LCC 2011), for law students  and young lawyers to network with local law firms and corporations.

eLawyer is proud to be invited to be  the media partner for this event again this year.

Young lawyers and law students are encouraged to and welcome to visit this LCC 2011.

The details of the event are below:

Event Name: KPUM-UM Law Career Convention 2011 (LCC)

Organiser: UM Law Society & KPUM

Venue: Law Faculty of University Malaya

Date: 19 November 2011 (Saturday)

Time: 9am – 4pm

eLawyer will be setting up an exhibition booth there.

Please do drop by and say HELLO to our team of representative (Our Eddie Law is happy to provide free legal career consultation on the spot).

Please click the below to see:

KPUM-UM Law Career Convention 2008

UM Law Career Convention 2010

Copyright (c) 123RF Stock Photos

Dear eLawyer Members,

Do you know what kind of area of practice suit you the most?

Do you know what are the key personality and aptitude to make good litigator or corporate lawyer or conveyancing lawyer?

eLawyer is proud to invite Mr Chan Kheng Hoe, the managing partner of Messrs Kheng Hoe & Partners, who has more than 12 years of post-qualified legal practice experience to share with you about personality profiles and how different aspects of the legal career fit different people.

Theme               : Crafting a Legal Career that is Fitted for Me

Speaker            : Mr Chan Kheng Hoe, Managing Partner of  Kheng Hoe & Partners

Date                    : 4 Nov 2011 (Friday)

Time                  : 10:00am – 12:00pm

Venue               : No. 1, Jalan Dutamas 1, D2-1-08 Solaris Dutamas Kuala Lumpur

Fees                    : RM30 (Refreshment will be provided)

Mode of Payment: You can make the payment at the registration counter on that day.

Programme:

10:00am: Registration

10:15am: Welcome by Eddie Law, founder of eLawyer.com.my

10:30am: Fit For Practice: Understanding how your personality profile affects your legal career by Mr Chan Kheng Hoe

11:30am: Q&A

12:00pm: Refreshments

Limited seats available!

To R.S.V.P please email your Full Name / Mobile No. / Name of University and Year of Graduation to koi@elawyer.com.my or contact Kye Wen at 03-8075 3215 for more info.

Please also help to circulate to your friends.

Regards,

Sarah

Copyright (c) 123RF Stock Photos

This article is contributed by Mr Foong Cheng Leong

Well, this article is not only about the iPad but also about other tablets in the market. Tablets such as Samsung Galaxy Tab or Blackberry Playbook are good examples, but they are not my focus here.

For me, my iPad is probably one of the most useful tools in my practice. It helps me with the following:-

Research
An internet-enabled iPad is very useful for quick research. Imagine you are in Court and you suddenly remember a case which would help your case. You can easily access legal publishing websites such as CLJ, Lexis-Nexis and even those of British and Irish Legal Information Institute (Baili). On a different note, Lexis-Nexis now has its own iPhone App. I understand that an iPad App for that will be out soon.

You can also store basic cases and statutes in your iPad. Since my practice is only limited to intellectual property matters, I keep a folder of relevant statutes such as the Trade Marks Act 1976, Patents Act 1983, Copyright Act 1987, Industrial Designs Act 1996, Franchise Act 1998 and Personal Data Protection Act 2010. This allows me to access them quickly without internet connection.

Accessibility 
With the right App (such as DropBox) or a proprietary software, you can access your files anywhere. Let say you need to look at a letter for a file; you can view straightaway it on your iPad.

I use DropBox to store my statues and legal cases – divided into various categories. For example, if I want to view a case regarding trade marks, I only need to access my Trade Marks folder.

Dropbox also synchronizes my folders in all my devices. For instance, the files that I keep in my PC will be the same as those in my iPad, so I can update the former.

If you have some money to spend, build a proprietary software or use a reputable software to make your files accessible remotely and securely.

But remember, everything that can be accessed on the internet, although secured by professionals, is not 100% secure. You wouldn’t want to end up like ACS:Law, a UK law firm who had some of its confidential information leaked online after its website was attacked.

Saving paper 
The iPad allows you to take notes using its keyboard or even scribbling your notes on handwriting apps such as Penultimate. I have books and books of notes in my room. Some of these notes have no value and it’s a waste of paper.

Once you’re done with your notes, your can email them to yourself or anyone you like.

Presentation
Recently, I met a potential client who wanted help on drafting an intellectual property license agreement. He had never seen such agreement before and my professional fee was a concern to him. He was probably thinking why should I pay so much for something I’ve never seen before?

I downloaded a 20 pages sample intellectual property license agreement into my iPad and showed him that such an agreement would look like this. That 20-page agreement was a great help to him to visualize the deliverables and of course, my fees.

Screen sharing
Few months ago, my colleague printed a few copies of presentation slides and distributed them to some clients in a meeting. I suddenly thought, “Wouldn’t it be cool if he had distributed iPads with those slides?”. Imagine walking into a board meeting with 10 iPads in your hand to be distributed to the board of directors!

With screen sharing, a user can share his screen with others by connecting the devices wirelessly. Let’s say if you wish to refer to a passage in a case to a Judge, you can do so by sharing your screen with him (provided that the Judge has an iMac or iPad, which brings to say, “All Judges should have an iPad too!”).

Digital Text Converter
If you have iPad2, you can use it like a scanner by taking a picture of a document and then convert it to editable text using Apps like FotoNote. Very useful when you have some hardcopy precents that are too troublesome to be typed.

You can also convert written digital text into editable text using certain Apps like PhatPat.

GPS
iPad has basic GPS function. It gives you your real-life location and directions to a specific place. Although very basic, this function saved my skin numerous times when I needed directions to Court or finding my way out of Putrajaya and Cyberjaya.

Closing 
There are many functions which I have not explored on my iPad. I’ve seen Apps which allow you to digitally sign on a document. I’ve also seen Apps which could turn your iPad into a fax machine to send and receive facsimile. It will also help you send the document by mail!

I only own an iPad hence I am unable to advise whether the other tablets are good. But if you’re looking for an iPad for work, my view is that a 16Gig and 3G+Wifi iPad2 is sufficient. iPad should be treated as a secondary device hence there is no point storing all your information inside. Also, with cloud computing, your data need not be stored in the iPad but in the “clouds”.

As for the best country to purchase an iPad, Malaysia has one of the lowest iPad prices.

As a closing note, iPad is a portable device. It is a light and easy to carry. It can easily be misplaced and lost. Therefore, security is very important. Make sure you password protect your iPad and ensure that MobileMe is installed. MobileMe allows you to wipe out your content if you lose your iPad.

Copyright (c) 123RF Stock Photos

This article is written by Steven Thiru

This article, which  was first published in PRAXIS, Chronicle of the Malaysian Bar in the July-Sept 2011 issue and is reproduced with the permission of the Bar Council on behalf of the Malaysian Bar.

Raising the Bar — A riposte

In the last edition of Praxis (Apr–June 2011), senior lawyer Roger Tan lamented that the quality of lawyering in Malaysia has palpably declined over the past two decades. He also pointed out that the various stakeholders have not done enough to deal with this “unsatisfactory state of affairs” that plagues the legal profession today.

The Bar Council is undoubtedly a critical stakeholder, enjoined by the Legal Profession Act 1976 to uphold the standards of the Malaysian legal profession. The purpose of this article is to shed some light on the efforts undertaken by the Bar Council to establish a uniform system of training for new entrants to the legal profession, known as the Common Bar Course (“CBC”). In its sweep, the CBC is intended to address many of the concerns expressed over the quality and standards of our lawyers.

It is noteworthy that the deterioration of quality/standards is not peculiar to the legal profession. Indeed, it appears that this is today a general malaise that is pervasive the world over. In a prescient article published in The Times of London recently (“Schools are churning out the unemployable”), Harriet Sergeant noted that young school-leavers in the United Kingdom generally lack “basic employability skills”. She recounted the experience of a managing director of a medium-sized information technology company, which interviewed 52 fresh graduates for middle management positions, and said:

He said: “On paper they looked ‘brilliant students’. Each had three As at A level and 2:1 degree. He shook his head. “There’s a big difference between people passing exams and being ready for work.”

This was obvious even before the interview began. Of the 52 applicants, half arrived late. Only three of the 52 walked up to the managing director, looked him in the eye, shook his hand and said, ‘Good morning’. The rest “just amble in”. When he asked them to solve a problem, only 12 had come equipped with a notebook and pencil.

“The three who had greeted him proved the strongest candidates and he hired them. Within a year they were out because of their “lackadaisical” attitude. They did not turn up on time; for the first six months, a manager had to check all their emails for spelling and grammar; they did not know how to learn. It was the first time they had ever been asked to learn on their own. Their ability to ‘engage in business’ was ‘incredibly’ disappointing and ‘at 5.30 on the dot they left the office.’ “

What has the Bar Council done?

Bar Council has wrestled with this vexed question of quality and standards for a number of years. It is accepted that there is no single panacea to the problem. However, the CBC has always been regarded as a step in the right direction. In 2008, the Bar Council established a dedicated committee, the Bar Council Ad Hoc Committee on the Common Bar Course, to look into the syllabus, structure and course content of the CBC. The members of the committee consisted of senior members of the Bar, academics and the then-head of the Malaysia Qualification Agency. The committee completed its task in 2009 and its proposasl were subsequently adopted by the Bar Council.

The Bar Council’s CBC studies

The Bar Council has advocated for the CBC since the mid-1980s. In this regard, the committee had the advantage of considering the following working papers that were considered by the Bar Council between 1989 and 2003:

(1) The Morrison Report (1989);

(2) Seeking Quality: Bar Council’s Memorandum on Legal Education Reform and Qualifications for Entry into the Legal Profession (1993);

(3) Report on the aims/objectives of the law programmes in public institutes of higher learning (1999);

(4) Paper on the Common Bar Exams presented by Khutubul Zaman Bukhari at the 12th Malaysian Law Conference, 10 Dec 2002;

(5) Report on the review of the CLP (2002); and

(6) Bar Council Memorandum on Legal Education Reform (2003).

The Bar Council has consistently taken the stand that the CBC “… should be the ultimate filter for entry into the profession to ensure quality. This means the check on quality will not be at the undergraduate level – i.e. entry into law schools –but at the professional entry level – i.e. professional qualifications – for entry into the Bar. Thus, the final check would be at the entry level into the legal profession.”

The Bar Council has also in the past emphasised that the CBC should be“vocational” in nature and the programme “… must therefore take on itself the duty of:

1) teaching certain practical skills in a practical way.

2) teaching or providing the opportunities for acquiring the knowledge necessary for or assumed by these skills, if the legal and factual situations used in the skills acquisition are not restricted to problems raised by the academic stage subjects.

3) teaching any additional legal subjects which are seen as essential for daily practice in the office or in the courts and which have not been taught in the academic stage.

The former Minister of Law in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Zaid Ibrahim, was quoted as saying that there was a need for a common evaluation system “to avoid disparity among those entering the profession”. “… We want to standardize the point of entry and elevate the standard of the legal profession in the country.”

He echoed the statement made by the then-President of the Malaysian Bar, Ambiga Sreenevasan: “The aim of the course is to have a common examination for all law graduates entering the legal profession, irrespective of where they had pursued their undergraduate degrees.”

The approach

As a starting point, the committee considered postgraduate professional training programmes (for advocates and solicitors/barristers and solicitors) in some Commonwealth jurisdictions, namely, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore and Canada. Whilst the experiences of  other jurisdictions were useful as guidelines, the committee did not lose sight of the fact that the profession in Malaysia is fused. Thus, the Bar Council’s CBC proposals are not a wholesale reproduction of any one of those from other jurisdictions. The committee has nevertheless adopted the critical parts of these programmes in the CBC proposals.

The committee also carefully considered the emphasis of the programmes in  other jurisdictions, ie academic teaching vs practical/vocational training. It is notable that, in all these jurisdictions, there has been a demonstrable shift in focus to practical training based on experiential learning.

The committee further took into account the apparent weaknesses in the Certificate of Legal Practice (CLP) and the poor quality/standards of law graduates coming into the Bar from both local and foreign universities/law colleges. As regards the CLP, the committee took the view that it is outdated and does not serve the requirements of the modern-day legal profession. On the quality/standards question, the committee noted some of the shortcomings seen in the Bar Council Ethics and Professional Standards course for pupils, eg abysmal language skills, appalling ethical values and the abject absence of rudimentary legal skills. A failure rate of 60% (at the inception of the course) was alarming and urgent measures were obviously needed to arrest this shocking state of affairs. A concerted attempt had been made to deal with these concerns.

The governing principles of the CBC

Thus, the first principle of the CBC is that it will serve as a single entry point into the legal profession in Malaysia regardless of where the undergraduate qualification is obtained (locally or from foreign universities/colleges of law). There may of course be a list of recognised universities/colleges of law (local and international) that would be determined by the Legal Qualifying Board.

Next, the basic objectives of the proposed CBC are as follows:
(1) The focus of the programme should be on skills/practical training (as opposed to testing on legal knowledge) to equip the student-at-law for legal practice in Malaysia;
(2) The vocational nature of the training will be complimented with academic (substantive law) elements, only where necessary. Thus, the CBC will not deal with substantive law, which should remain the domain of the universities/law colleges;
(3) The CBC must combine the modern experience of other Commonwealth jurisdictions and our peculiar requirements (in a fused profession, with the inherent weaknesses);
(4) The CBC should prepare the student-at-law for the first two years of practice;
(5) The CBC should also enable the student-at-law to choose (if they so desire) to become either an advocate (litigation) or a solicitor (litigation or non-litigation). This is achieved by giving the student-at-law the option to fashion their training in the last two semesters to cater for their choice; and
(6) The CBC must deal with some of the shortcomings in pupillage and enhance the training during pupillage.

A revolutionary feature of the proposed CBC is that it is intended to run parallel with pupillage. Under the proposed scheme, the student-at-law will undertake the CBC on a full-time basis in the first three semesters. They will then begin their pupillage and continue with semesters four and five of the CBC on a part-time basis.

The incorporation of pupillage into the CBC will hopefully deal with some of the shortcomings in the training of pupils. First, it will allow pupils to easily compare the level of training that they are receiving from their masters with their peers. Secondly, if there are weaknesses, the dual effect of “peer-learning” and participation in the CBC programme would provide a safety net. The programme, in particular, could be used to deal with these weaknesses.

The proposed CBC structure

It is proposed that the CBC be conducted in five semesters over a period of 20 months (inclusive of pupillage). In this regard, the first three semesters will entail full-time study whilst the remaining two semesters will be conducted part-time together with pupillage.

Semesters 1, 2 and 3 will consist of compulsory subjects. In semesters 4 and 5 (where the students-at-law would be undergoing pupillage), there would be a mixture of compulsory subjects and electives. As noted earlier, by their choice of the electives, the student-at-law (now pupil) can start tailoring their training to suit their preferred area of practice (litigation or non-litigation).

Further, the first three semesters essentially deal with aptitude, ethical values, basic legal skills and core areas of practice. These constitute the bedrock of legal practice in Malaysia and are intended to ensure that those coming into the Bar have the requisite qualities. In this regard, it is envisaged that there should be a stringent assessment system that would sieve out those who do not possess these fundamental requirements. A “guillotine” would be imposed after each of the first three semesters to achieve these purposes. In other words, it is not a given that all students-at-law would make the grade and complete the CBC.

Another critical aspect of the CBC is the Student Law Office programme (which is in semesters 2 and 3). This entails the students-at-law in the CBC being divided into small legal firms. They will, for all intents and purposes, function as a legal firm in Malaysia and they are to put into practice the legal skills that have learnt (or are learning) in a simulated legal environment.

A snapshot of the subjects in the respective semesters is as follows:

Semester 1: Introduction to Malaysian Legal Practice
(1) Practical Aspects of Malaysian Law
(2) Legal Interpretation Skills: Constitution, Statutes and Case Law
(3) Practice Management Skills

Semester 2: Legal Aptitude, Ethics and Practical Skills
(1) Legal Language and Communication Skills (including IT skills)
(2) Lawyering Skills and Practical Legal Research
(3) Legal Ethics and Professionalism
(4) Business and Solicitors Accounts
(5) Interviewing and Client Counselling Skills
(6) Opinion Writing
(7) Student Law Office Programme

Semester 3: Core Subjects 1
(1) Civil Procedure
(2) Criminal Procedure
(3) Drafting Skills
(4) Evidence
(5) Real Property Practice
(6) Commercial and Corporate Practice
(7) Student Law Office Programme

Semester 4: Core Subjects 2/Electives 1
Compulsory Subjects
(1) Introduction to Advocacy
(2) Negotiation Skills
(3) Alternative Dispute Resolution — Mediation

Electives (Choose 4)
(4) Advanced Evidence
(5) Advanced Civil Procedure
(6) Advanced Criminal Procedure
(7) Advanced Real Property Practice
(8) Advanced Corporate and Commercial Practice
(9) Wills and Probate Practice
(10) Insolvency Practice
(11) Family Law Practice

Semester 5: Core Subjects 3/Electives 2
Compulsory Subjects
(1) Remedies
(2) Execution/Enforcement Proceedings

Electives (Choose 5)
(3) Administrative Law Practice
(4) Advocacy in Criminal Law
(5) Industrial Law Practice
(6) Intellectual Property Law Practice
(7) Human Rights Litigation
(8) Alternative Dispute Resolution — Arbitration
(9) Introduction to Islamic Banking and Finance

The proposed subjects are not carved in stone. New electives should be included to meet the demands of the stakeholders.

Experiential learning

The Committee also considered the mode of delivery and the assessment system. It would appear that most jurisdictions have moved away from the traditional lecture-seminar/tutorial as the mode(s) of delivery of the CBC. Chris Roper, the former Director of the College of Law, Sydney, notes as follows:

We should break out of the early middle ages and realize that the printing press has actually been invented, and hence not everything that needs to be learnt has to be taken in through the ears! In other words, an increased reliance on students learning by reading or watching (e.g. demonstrations on DVD or the computer of, for example, seeking an adjournment) and a decreased reliance on lecturing. This has cost saving implications although upfront costs in preparing material for students to read or view. In fact I would ban the words “lectures” and lecturers” from the CBC and really make the point that it is about enabling learning, not about the traditional way they have learnt so far.

Thus, the modern approach (as part of experiential learning) is to have a mixture of lecture-seminar/tutorials, online learning, DVDs, practical and industrial training. This should result in cost savings and it would also impact on the logistical requirements for the CBC.

The consultation process

The Committee has conducted a number of public briefings on the CBC proposal. These included briefing the Council of Deans of the law faculties of the public universities, the faculties of law of Universiti Malaya and the International Islamic University Malaysia. The proposal has also been submitted to the Legal Qualifying Board and it is being considered by a dedicated committee set up by the Board. Further, Bar Council established a Joint Consultative Committee consisting of the Ad Hoc Committee on the CBC and representatives of public universities, private law colleges, the Attorney General’s Chambers and the Legal Qualifying Board. The proposal has been presented and discussed at the meetings of this Committee. There have been some very good suggestions and these will no doubt be taken on board.

Conference on Legal Education — Qualifying for the Bar: Standards Across the Jurisdictions

There have been a number of developments in other jurisdictions in the training of new entrants to the Bar. For example, the highly regarded Bar Vocational Course of the United Kingdom has been now replaced by a new programme called the Bar Professional Training Course. It is clearly important that the changes (and experiences) of these other jurisdictions be considered in crafting and finalising our nascent CBC. To this end, Bar Council, together with Taylors University, are organising the abovementioned conference on 29 and 30 July 2011 at Taylors University Lakeside Campus. Foreign experts on postgraduate Bar programmes have agreed to deliver papers at this conference on recent developments in their respective jurisdictions. They include Professor Nigel Savage (Chief Executive, College of Law of England and Wales), David Quark (Executive Director, Singapore Institute Of Legal Education), Chris Roper (Secretary, Judicial Conference of Australia), Professor (Dr) Madhava Menon (Dr Radhakrishnan Chair on Parliamentary Studies (Rajya Sabha), India), Dieter Yih (Vice-President, Law Society of Hong Kong) and Professor Bradford Morse (Dean of Law, University of Waikato, New Zealand and Professor of Law, University of Ottawa, Canada). The conference promises to be an interesting meeting of minds of leading individuals in this area. In this regard, the conference provides an excellent opportunity for Bar Council to revise and update the current proposal (where necessary) and bring it on par with the training in other jurisdictions. Members of the Bar who share Bar Council’s concerns over the deterioration of quality and standards are encouraged to attend this conference. Your views and experiences will certainly contribute to a holistic discourse on the future of legal training for aspiring lawyers. For further details and registration, please contact Sumitra Penesar by email at sumitra@malaysianbar.org.my.

A transformed Bar?

Bar Council has taken concerted steps to put the CBC on the national radar. The backdrop has been the general decline in the quality of the legal profession. It is obvious that the bar on standards must be raised. Thus, the CBC cannot be delayed or ignored any longer. The future of the legal profession depends on a viable CBC that deals with the current problems and meets societal expectations. The CBC has the potential to transform the Bar with a new generation of well-trained and skilled lawyers. It bodes well for the future and for a first-class legal profession in Malaysia.

1 The author is the Chairperson of the Bar Council Ad Hoc Committee on the Common Bar Course and this article is based on the proposals made by the Committee and adopted by Bar Council.
2 Reported in the New Sunday Times, 14 Mar 2010.
3 Steven Thiru, Hendon Mohamed, Adjunct Prof R Rajeswaran (UiTM), Dr Rozlini Mary Fernandez Chung (MQA), Prasad Abraham (now Judicial Commissioner, High Court Malaya), Sheila De Costa, GK Ganesan, Ken St James, Mariette Peters, Murad Ali, Roger Tan, Dato’ Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, Nahendran Navaratnam, SS Muker.
4 Bar Council’s Memorandum on Legal Education Reform dated 3 Jan 2003.
5 Khutubul Zaman Bukhari, 12th Malaysian Law Conference (10 Dec 2002).
6 The New Straits Times, 15 May 2008.
7 The New Straits Times, 6 Apr 2008.
8 The pass rate has since improved and stands at about 70% now.

Copyright (c) 123RF Stock Photos

This article is contributed by Dr. Gerrit Pelzer, Vivo Coaching

Hello and a warm welcome!

My passion is helping busy professionals step off the hamster wheel and unleash their full potential while maintaining a healthy balance.

As a former senior manager and now as an Executive Coach & Life Coach, I get to know so many great people – but only few live the life they desire.

What may be limiting you? What is keeping you from becoming your personal best?

How can you fulfill your potential without burning out? Ultimately you ask yourself:

How can I live a happy and successful life?

While the challenges you are facing may be as unique as you are as a person, certain patterns apply to most people. Today I want to share my insights on how to remove the five most common blockers that keep busy managers from enjoying success and happiness. You too can live the life you truly want!

Success Blocker #1: Busy Being Busy

One of the most common problems of todayʼs corporate world is that people have no time. But seriously, do you have less than the 24 hours I have each day? The trouble is that the majority of people does not use their time effectively. First they lack clarity on what they really want to achieve. Then ineffective meetings, unnecessary emails and putting out fires eat up peopleʼs time like cancer. At the end of the day, little of the truly important stuff gets done. You may be busy all day but achieve little, and this keeps you from being truly successful in the long run.

“Fully 90% of managers squander their time in all sorts of ineffective activities. … 40% of managers are well-intentioned, highly energetic but unfocused people who confuse frenetic motion with constructive action.” By Professors Heike Bruch and Sumantra Ghoshal, Harvard Business Review

If you are among these 90%, itʼs time to jump off the hamster wheel, get clarity & move into action.

Start right now to break through this blocker:

• Take out your calendar and make an appointment with yourself. Now. Clarity does not jump on you at the office desk. Get inspired by a serene environment. Go away for a weekend to your favorite resort.

• Implement regular time-outs in your daily routines. Move your body and flush your brain with oxygen. Exercise: go jogging, play some sports, or do Yoga. At least give yourself some time off to think, even though it might be only under the shower or in the bathtub.

• Then get focused. Focus on what will get you where you want to be, and act upon this consistently. Say “no” to all the shiny balls along the way. Do not address all your emails and other distractions immediately. Do not attend all those meetings. Get the important things done.

My clients report that the first step of breaking the old patterns of being caught in a frenzy of busy-ness was the hardest. Once they consistently applied the concept of clarity & action, they experienced a greater sense of achievement day by day while being less stressed.

Wouldnʼt it be great you felt the same? You can do it!

Success Blocker #2: Being a White Label

In my former job I experienced a manager who was very intelligent and well educated. I thought he had high potential. But he had no clear idea who he was and what he wanted to stand for.

Leading his team did not work out well. In his desperation to get the situation under control, he copied behaviors of various role models. He became a “white-label” manager, trying to re-brand othersʼ ideas and management styles as his own. Not seeing results quickly enough triggered him to change his approach almost weekly. This only made things worse: His team could not “grasp” the person and they could not adjust themselves accordingly. The otherwise very capable manager derailed completely—and resigned.

In order to be a great leader, you need to define your personal brand:

• Who are you?

• What do you stand for?

• What do you want people to say about you as a leader?

This becomes particularly important when you are about to take the next step on the corporate ladder. You must let go of some of the old stuff that helped you get where you are now. You need to develop new capabilities required in your new role.

In these situations managers are surrounded by well-meaning advice from all directions. My advice is: Listen to feedback and advice, but do not take just any advice. You need to be your natural self. You finally have to find out for yourself what suits you and where you want to get. Playing a role or wearing a mask does not get people very far.

Start right now to break through this blocker:

• Get out your notebook and start on a blank page. Write down your 3 to 5 major strengths and your 3 to 5 core values that define you as a person.

• Answer the questions: What do you want to stand for as a leader? What do you want other people to have first come to their mind when they think about you as a leader? Define your own brand!

If you are not sure about your strengths (which is quite normal), use one of these great tools: the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, Tilt 360 degree feedbacks—or get some personal coaching!

My clients report that building on their natural strengths gives them confidence. When youʼre confident, other people will sense it. And people want to see that confidence in a leader. It will feel great when they look to you for leadership!

Success Blocker #3: The Wrong People in the Wrong Places

How much extra time does it cost you and your team if some people are not doing their jobs? How much potential does your organization not realize because of  underperforming people who are in the wrong job? What are the hidden costs of recruiting the wrong people?

Alas, I cannot understand how every manager knows about the importance of people in a corporation—and yet very few act upon that knowledge.

Ultimately people are responsible for sustainable organizational success—or its failure.

Have you noticed that some of the best people leave your organization for a better offer, while the ones youʼd wish to leave stay forever? Take a simple action to prevent this: Make sure you get the right people on board in the first place!

Trivial? No. I see managers spending too little time and effort in the hiring and selection process.

Start right now to break through this blocker:

From now on, make recruitment your, and everybody else’s, most important business process:

• In case of vacant positions make sure you not only have a job description, but moreover that you have defined a precise candidate profile. Most importantly, make sure that HR or your professional recruiter understands your needs.

• Take time to work through applications and prepare thoroughly for the interview. I have seen managers pop into interviews and see the candidateʼs CV, lying on the table, for the first time. That sets you up for failure.

• Find out the candidateʼs motivation for applying for the job. This is more important than skills. Beyond getting the job, what does this person really want? Does his/her attitude match with your needs and the companyʼs philosophy?

• Create an atmosphere of trust in which you are completely open with what you offer and what you expect. Even though a candidateʼs most important objective may be just getting the job, he/she must understand that itʼs all about finding the right match. Itʼs your job to find out the candidateʼs strengths and true drive. The process of separating again after one or two years is just too painful for both sides to risk a lucky draw.

Recruitment is not easy. But if you always do your best, you increase chances of getting the right people on board. The initial extra effort will pay off: You will build a powerful team and spend much less time on people issues!

Success Blocker #4: Unbalanced and Spilling

Everything I ride motorbikes, I do Yoga and, when I was younger, I did Taekwondo. Balance is essential for doing them well!

The same is true for your life: When your life is not balanced, you spill things at work and at home, just like the milk that slips through your fingers when you take it from the fridge. You stay dramatically behind your potential if you are out of balance.

Top athletes know about the balance between exercise and rest. Over-exercising will lead to underperformance. Exercising too much will do more harm then good. However, at work we think we can outsmart the laws of nature.

Everyday I see people pretending to be great managers by working around the clock. The truth is: To be a top performer at work, your brain and body need regular rest. You need enough sleep. You need healthy food. You need healthy relationships. Thatʼs how you get into balance.

Science today confirms the wisdom of what the ancient Romans already knew: mens sana in corpore sano (“a sound mind in a sound body”). My clients tell me that recharging their batteries regularly yields a massive “ROI”: They are more energized and work more effectively and efficiently. You can have this, too!

Start right now to break through this blocker:

• Get your butt into the gym. Go jogging, do Yoga, or do whatever else you enjoy. You donʼt have to become a fitness freak, but you have to move your body! Just as you bring your car in for regular maintenance, you also have to do regular maintenance to keep your body functioning at peak levels.

• Relationships help you find balance, too. Managers in unhappy marriages seldom perform at work. Spend quality time with your spouse, your family, and your friends.

• And on the seventh day thou shalt rest. God could, so can you. Take a day off from your emails, text messages and business books. Not opening your laptop on a Sunday may be a very refreshing new experience.

You are a manager who plans activities, and who never misses a business appointment. Take your calendar and schedule your recreational time, exercising, or social activities for this week. Do this right now!

Success Blocker #5: Doing Deadening Work

Are you a smart person, working hard but still falling short of achieving your full potential? Then itʼs time to identify what is holding you back. Maybe you just need some tools; maybe you just need to do a few things differently.

But at some point you have to ask yourself bluntly: Am I doing the right thing?

If you are not progressing at the speed you know you could, it may very well be that your current actions are not aligned with your deeper sense of purpose.

Recently I was working with a client who was very successful in the traditional understanding. He was a director in his mid-thirties with high responsibilities in a global organization. His capabilities were never questioned. Yet, when he called me to start coaching, he was obviously stuck.

We explored how to move forward. There was nothing that could reasonably keep him from achieving his goals.

In the third session we talked about passion. He suddenly looked at me and gave me this little boyʼs smile: “You know, actually I always dreamed of having my own business.” “Ah, now youʼre talking!” I thought.

No wonder you are not getting where you want to be, if you are not passionate about what you are doing.

Start right now to break through this blocker:

Truly successful people are passionate about what they are doing!

Make a list of things that you do regularly in your current job, and distinguish between what you do for yourself (intrinsic motivation) and what you do because other people want you to do it.

Do you want this promotion and the higher salary? Or are others trying to make you believe you should want this? What do you want for yourself?

What are you truly passionate about? What drives you? What is that thing that you have buried deep down long ago, and that is now screaming at you: Let me out!

Many clients tell me that finding their true passion was mainly a matter of letting their gut win over their head. Re-discovering their passion made them jump out of bed on Monday mornings again and blurred the borders between work and play.

You too can live with passion and take your life to the next level!

Your Next Step to Unleashing Your Full Potential

Thanks for taking your valuable time to explore my thoughts on how to step off the hamster wheel and enjoy a fulfilling life with success in the office and at home.

But remember: Just knowing what needs to be done is not enough. You also need to get things done.

The question for you right now is:

• Are you ready to make the changes necessary to live the life you desire?

• Are you ready to let go of “busyness” and to remove the success blockers out of your way?

• Are you ready to take control of your life and unleash your true potential?

Then contact me today. Together we will elaborate your individual solution to unleash your potential without burning out, and to ultimately get you where you want to be!

email: gerrit@vivocoaching.com

Skype: gp_bkk

phone: +66-8 98 11 36 48

web: www.vivocoaching.com

Take the first step toward the fulfilling and rewarding life that you truly want, and achieve success at work and at home,

Gerrit Pelzer