In preparation for the court, the lawyers for the respective parties will agree upon a Common Bundle of Documents (CBD). It is supposed to contain all the documents that the litigants will submit to the court in support of their respective cases. There are two dimensions to each document in the CBD. The first is the authenticity of a document. This relates to the existence of that document: Did it really exist at the time? …
Even though I have conducted criminal cases for my entire career in practice, twenty-plus years now, doing everything from minor crimes of theft to attempted murder in the subordinate courts up to the High Court for drug trafficking, kidnapping and murder, and conducting criminal appeals and applications in the Court of Appeal and Federal Court, I am not known as a criminal litigator. Some are surprised to know I conduct criminal cases at all. I …
It was a High Court court-assigned counsel case. My client and another were charged with the murder of a man. Although according to the prosecution’s case, the other guy shot and killed the man, my client was also charged with the same offence of murder. He was charged with having a common intention for the man to be murdered. That meant, even though he did not pull the trigger himself he can be charged with …
Litigation is a drag these days. For the most part. A primary reason for that is regrettably my colleagues at the bar. Not all of them, of course. There are competent and credible ones who are also reasonable, fair and pleasant. But they are like Malaysian public holidays: they exist, they are celebrated but there’s never enough of them. My sense of it is there is a widespread misguided idea of what it is lawyers …
Having a father in legal practice can make moments more awkward than if I had no legal lineage whatsoever. My father was known in the legal fraternity amongst those of his vintage. He was reputed to be brilliant, independent-minded and articulate. His friends and acquaintances reminded me often enough. Growing up, whenever I was introduced to them, they would tell me, Your father is such a brilliant/intelligent/honest man. He [tells me his story]. I am …