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PENANG, Sat: “Exploit your talents, be passionate, empower yourself with knowledge and get involved!” was the resounding voice of the panellists sharing their views today on the fourth session on Standing Out in A Crowded Profession, second day of the 3rd Young Lawyers Convention 2008 held here at the Bayview Hotel, Georgetown.

Moderator Noreen Ahmad Ariff led the panellists Fadiah Nadwa Fikri, Dr. Azmi Sharom and Richard Wee Thiam Seng in a bi-lingual interactive forum addressing this much awaited topic, which invited 160 odd delegates of the Convention to speak their minds.

The first speaker, lecturer and columnist of The Star’s “A Brave New World” Dr. Azmi Sharom shared his views on what he expects of law students who entered the legal profession today, amongst others being courageous by first standing out for themselves, since the legal practice has evolved into a more open and critical environment.

Kuala Lumpur legal activist Richard Wee, in his usual candid manner began by wearing the sunglasses (and looking silly on purpose) in trying to make a point that nowadays, young lawyers seem to think that to stand out, all you need to do is dress differently and drive a BMW.

Richard quipped that a young lawyer should when entering practice not have such wrong perceptions of success by emulating the ‘kiasu’ attitude (a situation of A versus B, where A must always win). He was regretful that some young lawyers tend to put materialism before legal ability and felt strongly that if a young lawyer was sufficiently intelligent they would stand out, going on to give an example of how the Young Lawyers Committee was a good platform for a young lawyer to stand out.

In response to Noreen’s question on whether Bar activism is necessary in order to stand out in the Bar, Richard Wee replied that one should only get involved if they genuinely portrayed an interest in the Bar. If you want to represent someone, you have to be genuine about it. Young Lawyers can be outstanding by taking part in activities organised for them, including social and charity work, legal and human rights activism. Richard pointed out that this did not mean that you had to participate in controversial demonstrations but legal activism also meant standing out for your client and their rights as individuals, be it as a criminal defence advocate or a conveyancing practitioner.

He noted that the Malaysian Bar was in a unique position of being able to deal with specific situations affecting the legal rights of the community as a whole. However, in order to do so, the Bar must be strong and be empowered by strong and outstanding individuals. This can only be continually achieved if young lawyers are willing to participate in its activities, to work towards improving the world around them.

At this point, Dr Azmi interjected that to be outstanding in any career, it must be seen as a career. One must make sure one is doing what one wants to do, and be doing it for right reasons. If one loves and has a passion for what they are doing, that work will never be tiring.

Our moderator Noreen then posed this question to Fadiah Nadwa Fikri, a newly called young lawyer who was already passionately involved in Bar Activities, "Passion sometimes dies. How do you keep it alive?"

In reply, Fadiah described legal practice to be more than just work, it was a continual responsibility to serve the people. She invited the delegates to see that what is happening around them will eventually effect them; they cannot live in isolation. A lawyer cannot afford to turn a blind eye to the plight of less fortunate people who have no access to legal services, because it is also their inherent responsibility to protect the public on legal issues. To Fadiah’s view, taking part in activities is not about fame and glamour. It involved llots of hard work. One becomes humbled by the people one meets. Standing out in the legal profession for her meant finding a way to materialise what you believe in. To answer Noreen’s query on how confidence could be developed, Fadiah replied that this is a constant, current and real issue whether you are a lawyer, doctor, architect or engineer. It was about doing a job well without sacrificing peoples’ trust.

Richard Wee’s take on the situation was that confidence can be built with experience. This is complimented by an attitude of being honest with oneself. The situation faced by young lawyers today is a common problem faced by all young people entering the employment market. As things evolve around you, experience will allow you to draw clear goals and aspirations and cultivating a better work ethic.

Lee Shih, a young lawyer from the Kuala Lumpur Bar, as participating member of the audience gave his viewpoint that contributing articles to law magazines, giving talks, writing law books, volunteering your time is a way for a young lawyer to publicise oneself. For example, he pointed out that he knew of a sole proprietor who raised public awareness of his legal services by writing on legal issues on his blog. Lee Shih noted that this had the effect of successfully showcasing the issues the lawyer was passionate about, their views on the matter and their area of specialization. To follow up on this, Richard Wee expressed his view that writing was crucial to anything on this earth. Knowledge is available today for everyone’s use is possible because someone in the past has written about it. Writing about what you know allows other people to share it.

The audience was then fortunate enough to share the experiences of other young lawyers who had already managed to stand out from the rest, including Dipendra Harshard Rai, Amer Hamzah and Edmund Bon.

Dipendra said that not all young lawyers were interested in taking part in lawyers committee, but they all want to be successful! Dipendra felt that to lead a successful life in current times, you must think out of the box. The same type of practice twenty years ago may not be the same suitable for you. He invited a discussion on how can a brave young lawyer could reinvent the profession, by improving on the knowledge given to him by the seniors.

Criminal advocate Amer Hamzah said that before you can stand out you must first stand up! Make a change to yourself. It was essential that young lawyers have the independent attitude or mentality, and not depend on someone else if they wanted to be outstanding and make it on their own. He did it by taking up legal aid files, despite lack of experience at the beginning, whilst still seeking guidance by senior lawyers. Over the years, one must gradually gain experience, invest in yourself by purchase books and attending courses, read articles and cases. A change of mindset was required to change oneself, followed by an empowerment by gaining information.

Current National Young Lawyers Committee chairman, Edmund Bon said the most important thing is when you make a promise, you must carry out the promise. If you fail to carry out a promise for more than once, your word will fail to hold credence. Secondly, his message to the young lawyers not to fear Bar activities. Just because the Bar organised events which touched a political view, that did not make them supporters or opposers of any particular political parties. He expressed his pride in the Malaysian Bar who strived to make a difference and improve the situation not just for its members and also the nation.

In response to the question posed by participant Sandesh Kabir, another delegate Rizalman felt that seniority was a factor. Rizalman who practises in Kota Bahru felt that one must slowly be involved with legal events to enable them gain that experience required for later years.

As a National Young Lawyer’s Committee member this writer addressed the floor by expressing her view that age was not a factor, since an individual could stand out by taking advantage of their own abilities, which each person young or senior would possess. If you can write: write; if you can organize events, get involved in law activities which would inevitably allow you to get involved in organising events. For her, being involved in young lawyers committees enables you to mingle with people of various experiences, gaining the confidence to stand out faster. This writer then shared a piece of advice given to her by Malaysian Bar Past President, Hj Sulaiman Abdullah. When voicing her concerns that she felt resistance to her views from the more senior members of a committee she participated in as a young lawyer, he was conversely very encouraging. Hj Sulaiman had pointed out that when she voiced a clearly dissenting point of view, even if it were not accepted, at the very least the other members of that community be given a different perspective to their considerations.

Pupil Ken You of Kuala Lumpur then posed a view that standing out meant being successful. In reply, Fadiah said that what people thought about you cannot be made the most important consideration. When one believes in something, you must fight for what is right and you will stand out based on that. Then Farah, a young lawyer from Kuala Lumpur, shared her view that if one is sincere in ones’ job, it will reward you in return. If you only do it for the money, it will only remain a job forever. Haizan also from Kuala Lumpur shared her views that the wishes of a lawyer is not necessarily measured by big cases, big cars, but more on whether we are responsible for our work.

Richard Wee qualified his earlier statements that when he encouraged young lawyers to participate, it did not mean that he was asking them to participate in chaotic revolution. There were many means to convey your thoughts, and one must use any legal means necessary especially if the system was failing them. On the issue of young lawyers, Richard felt that a tool of success was actually your own personal attitude, at the end of the day, and his encouragement was merely to invite the delegates of the convention to energise people around you once they left the event. Because of a fine causal link, by merely adopting good proper practice a young lawyer could assist in lessening insurance premium for the whole of the profession in the long run. He pointed out that lawyers work in a symbiosis, needing each other. One person who does a blunder in his work will cause another to pay for their mistake.

On Edmund Bon’s invitation, the talk went slightly off tangent when pupil Azmi from Kuala Lumpur, expressed his dissenting voice talking about the Bar Council’s Walk for Justice held in September 2007, which he felt was pointless, not the right method and merely became a show of desperation on part of lawyers. After much uproar caused by this statement, Tina and Amer pointed out that the voices of young lawyers like Azmi, though unacceptable to some, was necessary for the appreciation of the issue as a whole.

In conclusion, the panellists wholeheartedly encouraged the delegates present to begin standing out by firstly standing up for oneself and having the courage to stand for issues they felt passionate about since a reputation would shortly follow suit.

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