The Malaysian Bar - 2011/2012 National Young Lawyers Committee Interim Report

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2011/2012 National Young Lawyers Committee Interim Report

Wednesday, 16 November 2011 08:35am

The National Young Lawyers Committee (“NYLC”) held its first meeting for the 2011/2012 term on 6 May 2011. The Chairperson for this term is Richard Wee. At the meeting, Vince Chong was appointed as Deputy Chairperson.

As at 1 Sept 2011, NYLC has met three times. At the third meeting held on 12 July 2011, NYLC was pleased to announce that Noor Azizah bt Abdullah, Leong Zhi Hong and Lee Chong Hong agreed to their appointments as Co-Deputy Chairpersons for the Northern Eastern and Southern regions.

NYLC’s main objectives are to:

(1) promote and protect the interests of young lawyers and pupils in chambers;
(2) enhance the continuing professional development of young lawyers and pupils in chambers for the betterment of the Malaysian Bar and society;
(3) provide a platform for interaction, and facilitate the exchange of perspectives and views, on numerous issues concerning the Bar, professional practice, the administration of justice and law reform; and
(4) maintain and nurture good working relationships with other Bar Council committees, various governmental agencies, non-governmental organisations and the media, in advocating on issues of concern affecting young lawyers and society in general.

The 4th Young Lawyers Convention

Organised by NYLC, the 4th Young Lawyers Convention was held from 1 to 3 July 2011 at Everly Beach Resort, Malacca. The Convention, which takes place once every three years, saw about 140 young lawyers from all over Malaysia in attendance.

The theme of the convention was “Towards a Better Bar”, consistent with NYLC’s aim to push our lawyers, particularly the younger members of the Bar, to continue improving themselves. Forums/sessions were tailored with specific topics to enlighten and provide insights into various issues that a young lawyer would face, such as the imminent liberalisation of the Bar, the importance of continuous professional development classes, the realities of the working conditions of a young lawyer and the duty of a young lawyer with respect to activism.

The Convention culminated with the issuance of the Malacca Statement, a statement that comprises the dreams, aspirations and hope of young lawyers. The Malacca Statement was presented to Lim Chee Wee, President of the Malaysian Bar.

Other Projects

In addition to the Convention, NYLC is now involved in, and spearheading, the following projects.

(1) The Putik Lada Column

This fortnightly column in the Star newspaper, launched on 6 June 2008, seeks to highlight issues affecting lawyers and society in general. The Putik Lada column is still going strong with contributions from young lawyers from the different states.

(2) Working Conditions Survey

The 2010/2011 Committee had initiated plans to carry out the survey in 2010. Unfortunately, due to unexpected intervening events, the survey was not completed by the time the 4th Young Lawyers Convention was held.

During the Convention, the results from an earlier survey conducted in 2007/2008 was discussed and the delegates at the Convention mandated NYLC to pursue and conduct another nationwide survey in order to determine the current working conditions amongst young lawyers. This is reflected in the Malacca Statement. At the time of writing, the survey is currently being finalised by the NYLC Working Conditions Survey Team.

It is hoped that the survey would provide an insight to the working conditions of a young lawyer and through the results, provide a guideline to employers as well as young lawyers on the hopes of the current generation of young lawyers in light of the rising costs of inflation and property prices.

(3) Projek Jelajah

Projek Jelajah is envisaged to be a platform for NYLC to engage and reach out to the younger members of the Bar (members with less than three years’ practice) with the aim of inspiring the younger members of the Bar to build bridges with their contemporaries from different States pre-empting the inevitable liberalisation of the Bar, and gain the benefits of the insights obtained at the Convention.

Since its inception, Projek Jelajah has created the opportunity for NYLC to visit, and receive the hospitality of, the Malacca and Kelantan Bars. In addition, as an offshoot of Projek Jelajah, NYLC has had the opportunity to meet the younger members of the Selangor Bar for a teh tarik session.

NYLC has sent out letters to the other State Bars in the hope that a common date could be set for NYLC to menjelajah.

(4) NYLC X Games

As part of promoting healthy living and the creed that lawyers should also “have fun”, NYLC is currently in the midst of organising various X-Games for younger members of the Bar. At present, the games that are in consideration are dragon boating, go-karting, wall climbing and paintballing.

(5) Getting Started! Workshop

NYLC is currently in negotiations with the Bar Council Professional Indemnity Insurance and Risk Management Department with regard to the Getting Started! Workshop. As the programme is one that concerns young lawyers, NYLC wants to help push the Workshop as part of NYLC’s Professional Development Classes (“PDC”) programme.

(6) PDC in conjunction with Professional Standards and Development Committee

In addition to item (5) above, NYLC is also in discussion with the Bar Council Professional Standards and Development Committee to facilitate bringing PDC to more young lawyers all over Malaysia and tailor the classes as a structured programme.

Richard Wee

Chairperson

National Young Lawyer Committee

Dated 15 Sept 2011

(1) Richard Wee Thiam Seng (Chairperson)

(2) Vince Chong Khin Young (Deputy Chairperson — Central Region)

(3) Noor Azizah bt Abdullah (Deputy Chairperson — Northern Eastern Region)

(4) Leong Zhi Hong (Deputy Chairperson — Southern Region 1)

(5) Lee Chong Hong (Deputy Chairperson — Southern Region 2)

Members:

(6) Ainaa Shahirah bt Mohd Nori

(7) Aston Philip Paiva