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In 1998, the Malaysian Bar officially formed the National Young Lawyers Committee (“NYLC”).

The Bar Council then passed a resolution in 2001 that all state Bars shall form Young Lawyers Committees and appoint two young lawyers’ representatives to attend the NYLC meetings in Kuala Lumpur.

The Johore Bar is the third largest State Bar with approximately 1,300 members. Regrettably, no momentous effort had been made to implement the aforesaid resolution.

The reason for non-compliance is disheartening but the facts are that very few young lawyers volunteer to join or be part of the Johore Bar Committee.

The awareness of the Young Lawyers Committees, both national and state level (save for the Kuala Lumpur Bar), had been almost non-existent for the past years.

Prior Formation of the Johore Young Lawyers Committee

The Bar Council had appointed Edmund Bon, an elected Council member, to chair the NYLC in 2006/2007. He inspiringly put forward the notion to other State Bars to promote the awareness of NYLC and insisted that two young lawyers’ representatives from each State shall attend each NYLC meeting.

On this basis, the Johore Bar elected two young lawyers’ representatives to attend the NYLC meetings. They are Low Khim Piow who is practising in Muar and myself in Johor Bahru.

Furthermore, Johore Bar Committee formed the Social and Young Lawyers Committee in response to the call from the Bar Council.

Formation of the Johore Young Lawyers Committee

On 27 July 2006, the Johore Bar Committee during its meeting finally made history when its members agreed to form a separate Young Lawyers Committee. The Johore Bar Chairman and Bar Representative are the main movers behind this. This move is encouraging.

On 28 July 2006, at the Social & Young Lawyers committee meeting, the then Chairperson Navamani officially announced the formation of the Johor Young Lawyers Committee (“JYLC”). Hence, there is no longer a joint committee for social and young lawyers.

4 August 2006 was then fixed for the first JYLC meeting to elect the chairperson and secretary. In the first meeting, I was elected as Chairperson and Roslina Sabiyah as Secretary. The members are Low Khim Piow, Soo Wee Loon, Lawrence Chiong and Mohamad Faizal.

Progress of the Johore Young Lawyers Committee

The first significant progress of the JYLC is definitely a historical moment in Johore Bar’s history with the appointment of the Chairperson, Secretary and committee members - all of whom are junior members of the Bar. Moreover, the Chairperson and one JYLC member are now invited to attend meetings of the Johore Bar Committee as observers. It is a great move towards future leadership for young lawyers.

Secondly, the JYLC has established a close network with Young Lawyers Committees in all States through monthly attendances at NYLC meetings in Kuala Lumpur.

Apart from the national network, the JYLC had recently through myself and Soo Wee Loon with other young lawyers from other States also affiliated ourselves with “international” counterparts such as the Singapore Young Lawyers Committee. We attended the Young Lawyers Forum at the Singapore Supreme Court in conjunction with the President of Law Associations’ Conference 2006. The forum also paved the way for the JYLC to associate ourselves with our notable neighbour for future activities.

On 2 September 2006, our JYLC was represented by Low Khim Piow with four other Johore young lawyers who attended the Malacca Young Lawyers Charity Night. The moral support shown towards our neighbour State Bar was greatly appreciated and many acquaintances were made.

The next JYLC Chairperson will be elected at the Johore State Bar Annual General Meeting 2007 and the election campaign for the JYLC may be the highlight of 2007 as it will be another first in history.

Challenges of the Johore Young Lawyers Committee

The first and utmost task faced by the JYLC is to promote awareness of the existence of the JYLC so as to attract significant numbers of promising bright young lawyers to join our Committee by the end of next term. Up to today, the lack of young lawyers coming forward to join the activities of the Johor Bar Committee is discouraging and a cause of concern noted by senior members of our Bar. This decline in numbers would firstly have an impact on the future of the Johore Bar and eventually our State Bar’s significance and role at national level.

How does this matter concern young lawyers in Johore, and why participate when one can spend more time billing more hours, raking in more dollars or pursue other forms of leisurely interest and activities?

Nevertheless, do young lawyers want to have a say on issues that may concern all lawyers and the future of our legal environment in Malaysia? The JYLC aims to be a platform for all young lawyers to voice their concerns and difficulties; ultimately to make known their views and concerns to the Johore Bar. The JYLC will always be receptive to suggestions as we aim to constantly renew and improve. It will also provide an opportunity for young lawyers to come together, interact and foster relationships. As it has been said, “It’s not who you know, but who knows you when networking”.

In due course many more progress reports, particulars of challenges faced by the JYLC and activities happening will be circulated to all young lawyers. As such, your enthusiastic response and participation by all young lawyers towards this newborn JYLC is imperative and would be greatly appreciated.

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