Contributed by Joanne Leong, Co-Deputy Chairperson of Bar Council Constitutional Law Committee, with photos by Joshua Tay and Yaw Ern Nian, Members of Bar Council Constitutional Law Committee
The annual Kuala Lumpur Bar Young Lawyers Committee (“KLYLC”)’s “University Visits” series kicked off with its first visit to Advance Tertiary College (“ATC”) on 6 Aug 2011 (Saturday). The event, a collaboration with the Bar Council Constitutional Law Committee (“BCCLC”) and KL Bar Pupil’s Welfare Committee (“KLPWC”), started at about 10:30 am with an introductory speech by Kenneth Wong, Chairperson of KLYLC.
After the brief speech, the participants, comprising approximately 80 law students, were divided into two groups for an “ice-breaker” session entitled “Where do you stand?”. One group, led by Aston Paiva, remained in the auditorium, while a slightly smaller group, led by Yohendra Nadarajan, was ushered to another room.
During the session, Aston Paiva and Yohendra Nadarajan posed a series of questions to their respective groups that resulted in the participants scuffling around the room to make their “stand” on whether they agreed, disagreed or were uncertain of their position in relation to the topics discussed. Some of the questions, such as “Should the death penalty be abolished?” and “Should preventive detention laws be repealed?”, saw an equal number of students taking the positions of “agree” and “disagree”, thus sparking an interesting exchange of comments during the sessions.
All participants subsequently congregated at the auditorium for a question-and-answer session, particularly in respect of legal practice for young lawyers. There, pupils in chambers, young lawyers, not-so-young lawyers, and members of the BCCLC – some of whom were students – introduced themselves before answering a barrage of questions from the floor. During the discussion, questions that were posed by the participants predominantly centred around working hours, starting salaries and areas of legal practice.
During this session, the committee members from the respective committees shared their pupillage experience as well as experiences as young lawyers. HR Dipendra and Richard Wee, then gave their views from an employer’s perspective. There were also enquiries regarding the development of the proposed Common Bar Course (“CBC”), which saw HR Dipendra giving an insight into the CBC. A rather unusual question, perhaps tied to the popularity of a recent television series on mediators, was raised when a student enquired about the mediation process and its role in Malaysia, thus prompting Richard Wee to explain the mechanism of mediation and how mediation was perceived among litigants.
The final session was a short presentation entitled “Activism” by Syahredzan Johan, a young lawyer as well as the Chairperson of BCCLC. It was a lively and interactive session that surely inspired students to be more involved in activism work!
Each student left the event with not only invaluable information, but a set of the MyConstitution Campaign’s Rakyat Guides booklets and a copy of the Pupillage Handbook, courtesy of the Kuala Lumpur Bar Committee.
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