What is a lawyer?
To me lah-ha, A lawyer is someone that wants to earn a living only through the practice of law. They do this because they enjoy it, are fond of it, …
Interviewing New Clients for Facts
When meeting a client for the first time, I tell my younger colleagues they need to be mindful that a new client almost always tells us only the favourable aspects …
Call Speech for Nazira binti Abd Salim
Note: Many years ago, on 4.7.2019, I moved the Petitioner’s Master’s call, Encik Ahmad Danial bin Mohd Azlan. Encik Ahmad Danial’s master was Yang Arif Tuan Atan Mustaffa Yussof Ahmad, …
Concise, Clear and Cogent
To be concise is to be brief. To be clear is to express something we have a thorough grasp of in an easily understood way. To be cogent is to …
Call Speech of Lee Kin Heng
Note: This is another call speech by Amer Hamzah Arshad. The speech was delivered sometime in 2010. I asked Amer specifically for a copy of this speech because I liked …
Analysis of Pleadings
As a litigator in Malaysia, if there is one trait we must possess, it is adaptability. Besides the constant sea changes to court processes, case management and court demands, and …
Call Speech of Syahrul Syazwan bin Salehin
Note: This is a call speech by Amer Hamzah Arshad. He delivered it on 7.11.2009 for my former pupil Syahrul Syazwan bin Salehin’s call to the bar. I reproduced his …
A Statement of Non-Agreed Facts
It was a defamation case in a High Court up north sometime in my tenth year of practice. The one time I was there was my only appearance, ever. I …
Not Bigging Up a Claim
We had a client with a tortious claim for negligence against a government department because they messed up his marriage from which he had children. The incident had a potentially …
The Quality of Integrity Expected of Lawyers
Earlier this year, I had a matter with a long-time client that provided me with an example to use to explain the quality of integrity I expect from the people …
Working with Juniors and Myself
As a senior lawyer, I almost always work with a junior or two on a matter. By junior I mean a fresh or less experienced lawyer or a pupil. The …
Getting a Witness to Trial
My father’s firm once had a litigious client. She was in her late thirties or early forties when I was first acquainted with her. I was a few years into …
Call Speech for Sanjay Nathan Visvanathan
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 …
Call Speech for Hambhika Nair a/p Sukumaran
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 …