©New
Straits Times (Used by permission)
by June Ramli
• Bar Council aware of problem, but says change will
take time
• Ability of judges 'also down the drain'
• Students say courses focus on exams, not real world
• 'Poor command of English to blame'
KUALA LUMPUR: The standard of lawyers, most of whom graduated from local
universities, range from the good to the grotesque, says a senior judge.
"Many of them are bad because of the low–quality training
they received at local institutions of higher learning," Court of Appeal judge
Datuk Gopal Sri Ram told the New Straits Times after the launch of a book,
Malaysian Employment Laws, by M.N. D'Cruz here on Thursday.
Sri Ram, who has been in the legal profession for 40 years, said some lawyers
did not have a clue how to introduce their opponents or to cite cases in court.
There was also a large number who did not know how to prepare written briefs, he
added.
"The Bar Council should address this problem instead of being distracted by
other matters."
He said the professional standard of lawyers, estimated at
13,000, had declined in the last 10 years.
"At Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, for example, I was told that they do not
offer company law, which is a core subject if one wants to practise law."
He said many lawyers were also financially strapped because of the high cost of
maintaining their practice.
As a result, many could not afford to even buy law journals, which cost between
several hundreds and thousands of ringgit per volume.
"Law books to a lawyer are what the scalpel is to a surgeon and making them
expensive does not help the profession," he said.
"Many are broke because private practice takes a lot of money; they have to pay
their staff and their provident fund and taxes, and when all that is done,
nothing much is left."
He said the journal for contract law, for instance, cost RM2,000 and this was
because it was printed and published in England.
"Many law journals come from Australia and India while Malaysia produces very
few law books.
"This is another reason why it makes it expensive for lawyers.
"That is why the photocopy machines in their offices are kept busy at all
times," he added.
He commended the government's decision to replace the Certificate in Legal
Practice examination with the Common Bar Examination.
Sri Ram added: "This is a good idea and we should give it our support."
Bar Council aware of problem, but says change will take
time
KUALA LUMPUR: The Bar Council has denied that it is ignoring the issue of poor
quality lawyers because it has been distracted by other matters.
Bar Council vice–president Ragunath Kesavan said the issue of
poor–quality lawyers was "an ongoing issue which needs a comprehensive change of
the whole structure".
"I don't think it is an urgent issue. It's an ongoing issue which the Bar
Council is well aware of and is taking steps to address," he said.
"The changes cannot be done overnight. They need to be addressed thoroughly."
He was responding to a call by Court of Appeal judge Datuk Gopal Sri Ram that
the Bar Council address the issue urgently.
Ragunath said some of the steps taken by the Bar Council were
to improve the level of advocacy, support continuous legal education and push to
replace the Certificate in Legal Practice examination with the Common Bar
Examination.
He said this issue was not exclusive to Malaysia, but was also faced by other
law fraternities.
He disagreed with Sri Ram that locally–trained lawyers were not up to par.
"It's a question of perception. There are senior lawyers who perform
horrendously in court, too. The problem is not confined to locally–trained
lawyers.
"The Bar Council has multiple roles to play.
"We have fully funded legal aid, we're fighting for judiciary reform and to
uphold the rule of law. All these should go in tandem."
He said the Bar Council could not be expected to monitor all 13,000 of its
members individually.
The Bar Council, he said, was a regulator of the profession to ensure that it
provided high–quality service to clients.
Ragunath said: "Foreign–qualified lawyers have the advantage of better grasp of
the English language.
"But locally–trained lawyers have the advantage of being exposed to Malaysian
laws."
On the subject of expensive law journals, he said the Bar Council was looking
into an online library system accessible to members.
Members only pay a minimal fee to gain access to the system, which will be
implemented in the near future.
"The Bar Council is also giving subsidies to state bar committees to set up
their own libraries."
Ability of judges 'also down the drain'
by Marc Lourdes and Evangeline Majawat
KUALA LUMPUR: The decline in the calibre of judges is more glaring than the drop
in quality of lawyers, according to a veteran criminal lawyer.
He said judge Datuk Gopal Sri Ram's lament on the "low
quality" of locally–trained law–yers and his comment that they ranged from the
"good to the grotesque" also applied to judges.
"It works both ways. The quality of judges has gone down the drain since the
1980s," he added.
The lawyer, who declined to be named, agreed with Sri Ram's statement that many
legal practitioners were a bunch of "broke professionals".
"It is more expensive to practise now because of the increased cost of office
rentals and good staff.
"Since there are so many lawyers around, there is also
intense competition in terms of fees; so much of undercutting takes place."
He said this was the main reason why lawyers struggled to afford "luxuries" like
law journals.
While local journals and law reports were relatively affordable, foreign
publications like the Commonwealth Report, the All India Report or the All
England Report could cost upwards of RM50,000, he said.
Asked if he agreed with Sri Ram's assessment that poor training was the reason
for lawyers faring so badly in court, he replied that it was the lack of passion
and the lust for money over self development that were the causes.
"We need people like Sri Ram to come down, talk to the students and motivate
them," he added.
Another veteran lawyer said a person might not be broke just because he could
not afford law journals.
"This should not be an issue. The journals are expensive and rookie lawyers
cannot afford them immediately.
"It doesn't mean that you're a bad lawyer if you don't have the journals.
"The integrity of the lawyers is far more important than the journals."
He said the Bar Council was doing its part by offering a wide selection of law
journals to its members.
He denied that lawyers from local universities were poorly trained.
"We're trained under the masters. Generally, there isn't much difference when it
comes to being foreign or locally trained.
"I think all lawyers, trained locally or overseas, have the knowledge," he said.
However, he agreed there was room for improvement.
"Knowledge–wise, I think we're doing well. But there is inadequate practical
training as the education is examination–based.
"The Certificate in Legal Practice should be more practical–based to prepare the
students for pupilage," said the lawyer, who added that the nine–month period in
chambers was insufficient.
Students say courses focus on exams, not real world
by Marc Lourdes and Evangeline Majawat
KUALA LUMPUR: Several law students accepted that there is an element of truth to
the statement by judge Datuk Gopal Sri Ram that they are receiving low–quality
training.
They agree that the main problem with the system is that it
is too examination–oriented.
A fresh graduate, who is in chambers at a top law firm, said his education did
not prepare him for what he was now facing.
"Local institutions focus too much on exams. They do not give you the proper
picture of the legal profession and there's no exposure to the real industry.
"When I started chambering, it was a completely different world. Processes, such
as the proper way to address judges and the actual art of advocacy, are not
taught and it takes years to master."
However, he said, solely blaming the training of local
graduates was an unfair generalisation as there was no guarantee that an
Oxford–trained graduate would be better than a locally–trained one.
"That said, I do think that local institutions can buck up and do better.
"The fact that there are no Malaysian universities ranked in the top 200 of the
Times Higher Education list says a lot about how much we can improve," he said.
A second–year Universiti Malaya law student agreed that there was too much focus
on examinations.
"A better idea would be to have a system that is evenly split between course
work and exams.
"There are advantages to using assignments as a benchmark because students often
do more in–depth research and studying when preparing an assignment," the
part–time student said, adding that during examinations, students often just
mugged and regurgitated facts and cases.
She said more debates were needed in law school to prepare students for the real
world.
"But, it is unfair of Gopal to say that many lawyers these days are of low
quality since there was plenty of deadwood in the legal profession even during
his time."
Asked if his comments could be demotivating to law students, she replied that
they were not.
"Why should they? I look at them as a challenge to prove him wrong."
'Poor command of English to blame'
KUALA LUMPUR: The poor quality of local lawyers boils down to an issue of
language rather than training, Universiti Malaya vice–chancellor Datuk Rafiah
Salim said yesterday.
Many students did not have a strong command of English, which
was why they were struggling in court, she said.
"Our law is based on Common Law and this means lawyers still look up English law
and read up on English cases.
"If the students have a better grasp of English, they would be able to practise
advocacy better.
"Language is a tool in law and we need to address the issue at primary and
secondary school level, as university is not the place to do it, unless you are
studying languages."
Rafiah, however, agreed that universities needed to be more
focussed in teaching the subject, especially on the procedural aspects of
practising law.
"What is being taught in university is not being used by those going into
practice," she said.