Legal Practice

Call Speech of Syahrul Syazwan bin Salehin

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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 speech because it provides corroboration for The Time Amer Found Crime. The original speech had paragraph numbers and headers. I removed the numbering but retained the headers, and lightly edited the speech for readability. Dengan izin Yang Arif, Saya, AMER HAMZAH ARSHAD, mewakili pihak Pempetisyen, …

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A Statement of Non-Agreed Facts

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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 was assigned to do the trial since my colleague who prepared the case had left the firm. Thankfully, he was the diligent sort. It meant he kept a good record of the file and kept it in a sensible order. That always made take over …

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Not Bigging Up a Claim

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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 lasting adverse societal impact on all of them. He was very angry and upset about the situation. He was stoked as well because the government agency had treated him in a cowardly and callous manner. ‘I want them to pay for what they have done, …

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The Quality of Integrity Expected of Lawyers

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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 I work with and want to work with.   Several years back a client of ours had a short-lived affair with a non-Muslim woman frustrated with her marriage. She got back at her non-Muslim husband for his neglect and disrespect by taking on a series …

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Working with Juniors and Myself

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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 junior would be the one that has to do the ‘getting up’ for the case. To ‘get up’ a case is to prepare a case for hearing or trial. It is not a phrase often used these days.  In getting up a case, the junior …

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