May it please your Lordship, The Petitioner is the elder of the two sons of Mr M Visvanathan and Madam Ong Puay Hioh. There are many paths to the practice of law. Some of us came here because of parental expectations; some because they do not know what to do, others because of a natural inclination for the study of law. Then there are those born and bred for the practice of law; I would …
In my years of practice, I discovered that there is a natural resistance to giving the young, the fresh, and the inexperienced opportunities to do a matter. By matter, I mean conducting a hearing of an application or a trial, conducting a client interview, or even just attending case management. I knew some of my peers in larger or prestigious firms who went for several years before they were allowed to conduct matters on their …
May it please your Lordship, It is with great pleasure and some anxiety that I move a call in the presence of a great man and outstanding jurist, Datuk Mohd Hishamudin Yunus. My Lord, there are many paths to the practice of law. Some find the path because of a desire to do justice. Some have their path set out for them and need only follow through. Others discover that path out of inspiration. And …
Throughout my career, there have been a handful of judges that took a special liking to me for reasons unknown to me. By special, I don’t mean the good kind of special. It’s the other one, which was articulated through special treatment. The first one I encountered was a senior session court judge at the Kuala Lumpur sessions court. I was no stranger to his court. I frequented the court as a pupil-in-chambers begging and …
Note: This speech is a rare speech I wrote but did not deliver. The reason was that I was Siti Aisyah’s colleague and de facto Master. Her de jure Master was my colleague Puan Rose Zilawati. Despite not being able to deliver her call speech, it was important to me a good speech was delivered for her. So I undertook to write the speech and had my friend and Shan’s cousin, Jeya Kumar, deliver it. …