While hanging about the Jalan Raja criminal magistrates in the afternoon in my second year of practice, a friend introduced me to a senior-looking lawyer. He was a Malay man in his late 50s or early 60s. He was a former prosecuting officer (PO) who now swung for the defence. He was not a deputy public prosecutor (DPP). Back then, police officers with the rank of Inspector could and would carry out prosecutions in the …
I see a lot of this on social media these days. Daily, we are treated to a surfeit of self-generated pictures, Tik-Tok Videos, Facebook Posts, Twitter Tweets, Instagram LinkedIn Posts and whatever else by lawyers bragging up or lyrically wa-waxing about a lawyer’s exciting or dramatic working life, a lawyer’s hardship, a lawyer’s work life and all that go with it. Much of these are the efforts of young lawyers in an attempt to gain …
I remember the first time I heard my boss say that. I was a young and impressionable lad back then, which means to say I was easily impressed. It was a meeting at our office. The client began his story with the background facts of his case, setting out the characters and events, and how they relate to each other. He was a few minutes into his story when my boss interrupted him by saying, …
The way I was raised, a court date is a sacred date. It must be attended. Unless I was very ill or about to die, an adjournment is out of the question. It does not matter why the court fixes the date. It can be for case management, mention, hearing, trial or even to ask how your grandmother is (has not happened). Whatever its purpose, as a lawyer, I must attend, either by myself or …
This piece of advice was given to me by my father before I commenced my pupillage. The longer version was along the following lines: Before you go to court, you must always read your file. Read everything in it. Always read the pleadings so you get the essence of the dispute. If there is an application pending, read up on it. Read the correspondence folder and file notes. It tells you what happened before and …