Those That Dislike Us
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 …
In Someone Else’s Clothes
I recently went down for a hearing in Johor Bahru High Court for a criminal matter. It was to examine a witness. The examination was not expected to take long; …
‘Boss, how come I say the same thing, but you get it and I don’t!’
My colleague said this to me the other day after we completed an online case management. Over the last few case managements he attended alone, he could not prevent applications …
‘I am more of the talking type of lawyer.’
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 …
Why Legal Awards Don’t Interest Me
Don’t get me wrong. I think legal awards serve a purpose. To need an extrinsic indicator of success or recognition for their self-esteem is common. Legal awards serve this need. …
First Principles and Navigating the Law
As a lawyer, I am fortunate my father is a lawyer too. In terms of age, we’re a generation apart. That means he has thirty years of lived experience ahead …
The Awful Need to Feel Productive
My own behaviour baffles me. For I find myself not doing what I really want to do but doing what I really loathe. Yet sure if I do things that …
In Avoiding Small Talk
There was a period in my life when I equated small talk with tedium. I don’t think I had a problem with it prior to that or found it so …
Selective Amnesia and the Imposter Syndrome
My father once recited Rudyard Kipling’s If to me. I loved it and resonated with every line in that poem. But some of those lines I hold fast to. One …
The Importance of Not Using Metaphors to Describe Symptoms
Once in my teens, I went to see my usual doctor, a general practitioner, in what is now called Damansara Uptown. I was suffering from pretty bad diarrhoea. Time always …
Mentoring the Mediocre
For a long time now, I have not been discerning about whom I teach. The gifted, talented and brilliant naturally find equally competent teachers who wish to mentor, tutor and …
When I feel down, miserable and beaten
it is usually a sign that I have not got enough sleep or lost my sense of gratitude, often both. The former often leads to the latter. It happens when …
Notes about a 5-Year Bar Council Plan
For the last few years, I have been thinking that the Bar Council (BC) needs a long-term plan that articulates the spirit of its statutory duties as encapsulated in the …
The Secret to Extrinsic Success
Extrinsic success is the acclaim, awards and accolades society bestows on us. Or discretely purchase, for the less scrupulous. It is the laudatory honours that commemorate our societal or communal …