Article and photos contributed by Chua Ai Lin, Writer/Editor, Bar Council
Held four times a year at the Bar Council Legal Aid Centre (KL), the Exit Evaluation is the culmination of 14 weeks of compulsory legal aid duty for chambering pupils. The Exit Evaluation for Batch No 58 was held on the afternoon of 9 September 2009.
From the moment the pupils stepped into the Wisma Kraftangan building, there were squeals and shrieks of laughter and greetings among them. Throughout the afternoon, the chatter never ceased as the 120 pupils gathered together to share their experiences.
Stephanie Bastian, the Executive Director of LAC (KL), gave a welcome address, urging pupils to always feel welcome at the LAC and to continue their work as volunteer lawyers. After her encouraging words, Rajen Devaraj, who helped facilitate the program, commenced the ice–breaker and team–building activity, which was met with much enthusiasm from the participants.
Held four times a year at the Bar Council Legal Aid Centre (KL), the Exit Evaluation is the culmination of 14 weeks of compulsory legal aid duty for chambering pupils. The Exit Evaluation for Batch No 58 was held on the afternoon of 9 September 2009.
From the moment the pupils stepped into the Wisma Kraftangan building, there were squeals and shrieks of laughter and greetings among them. Throughout the afternoon, the chatter never ceased as the 120 pupils gathered together to share their experiences.
Stephanie Bastian, the Executive Director of LAC (KL), gave a welcome address, urging pupils to always feel welcome at the LAC and to continue their work as volunteer lawyers. After her encouraging words, Rajen Devaraj, who helped facilitate the program, commenced the ice–breaker and team–building activity, which was met with much enthusiasm from the participants.
The first activity was a test to see how well the participants knew one another. The pupils were asked to obtain signatures from fellow pupils who met specific criteria such as ‘someone who has climbed Gunung Kinabalu’ and ‘someone who is against the death penalty’. That part was easy enough but in order to test their accuracy, the pupils had to later identify those who from the crowd had given them the signatures they collected. The challenge proved a piece of cake for the pupils and the top three participants walked away with prizes.
Next the pupils were divided into groups and took turns recollecting their most noteworthy experiences while performing their legal aid duty. Iskandar provided legal representation for a youth who was charged with possession of dangerous weapons, which carries the sentence of imprisonment and whipping. Despite being told by another senior lawyer not to proceed as he was bound to lose, Iskandar persevered, found the relevant cases to support his argument and managed to convince the magistrate to reduce the penalty imposed. His client was only fined RM1,500 and was able to be with his family for Hari Raya.
Abu Bakar spoke about his elation at successfully arguing for a man, who had been remanded for a year for stealing a motorcycle, to be freed. That same night, Abu Bakar received a call at 11.00 pm from the man thanking him for reuniting him with his wife and children. As for Shahrul, another fellow pupil, he felt amply rewarded by the simple smile and sincere thank you he received from his client.
The session that got the students to share their experiences helped show just how far they had come in 14 weeks. In the beginning, they had looked upon the legal aid duty as a mere requirement en route to being called to the Bar. Now, on hindsight, many of them clearly showed that they had benefited both personally and professionally from being part of the Legal Aid program.
When Rajen asked for a show of hands of those who were happy that the Bar Council required them to do the 14–day legal aid duty – almost everyone in the room proudly raised their hands.
Genevieve Tan, who was part of the dock brief (Monday) group, had this to say: “It was a great experience. The best part was growing in spirit, love and compassion together with my group and in my profession.”
Ravindran Nekoo, the previous LAC (KL) Chairperson thanked the pupils for all their hard work and encouraged them to continue to work with the Centre, “Each and every one of you has made changes these past weeks but it does not stop here, there is a lot more to be done.”
The event ended when Ravinder Singh Dhaliwal, the current LAC (KL) Chairperson, took to the stage to conclude the afternoon’s proceedings.
Next the pupils were divided into groups and took turns recollecting their most noteworthy experiences while performing their legal aid duty. Iskandar provided legal representation for a youth who was charged with possession of dangerous weapons, which carries the sentence of imprisonment and whipping. Despite being told by another senior lawyer not to proceed as he was bound to lose, Iskandar persevered, found the relevant cases to support his argument and managed to convince the magistrate to reduce the penalty imposed. His client was only fined RM1,500 and was able to be with his family for Hari Raya.
Abu Bakar spoke about his elation at successfully arguing for a man, who had been remanded for a year for stealing a motorcycle, to be freed. That same night, Abu Bakar received a call at 11.00 pm from the man thanking him for reuniting him with his wife and children. As for Shahrul, another fellow pupil, he felt amply rewarded by the simple smile and sincere thank you he received from his client.
The session that got the students to share their experiences helped show just how far they had come in 14 weeks. In the beginning, they had looked upon the legal aid duty as a mere requirement en route to being called to the Bar. Now, on hindsight, many of them clearly showed that they had benefited both personally and professionally from being part of the Legal Aid program.
When Rajen asked for a show of hands of those who were happy that the Bar Council required them to do the 14–day legal aid duty – almost everyone in the room proudly raised their hands.
Genevieve Tan, who was part of the dock brief (Monday) group, had this to say: “It was a great experience. The best part was growing in spirit, love and compassion together with my group and in my profession.”
Ravindran Nekoo, the previous LAC (KL) Chairperson thanked the pupils for all their hard work and encouraged them to continue to work with the Centre, “Each and every one of you has made changes these past weeks but it does not stop here, there is a lot more to be done.”
The event ended when Ravinder Singh Dhaliwal, the current LAC (KL) Chairperson, took to the stage to conclude the afternoon’s proceedings.