Transmenu powered by JoomlArt.com - Mambo Joomla Professional Templates Club

Being a young lawyer can be stressful with insanely long working hours, poor working conditions and low remuneration. These lawyers recognise that they are the future of the Malaysian Bar and there is an urgent need to voice out and address their problems.

EVERY now and then, they grumble about feeling unappreciated, being overworked, grossly underpaid and lacking in social life.

One thing for sure, young Malaysian lawyers today are not alone when it comes to the problems they face in today’s challenging legal industry.

They often say that the first few years as an advocate and solicitor will be one of the most stressful that you will ever face, if not the most stressful ever.

Recently, it was reported that a 25-year-old lawyer working at a legal firm in Kuala Lumpur had fallen off the Penang Bridge. The young lawyer who had just graduated from a local university was suspected to have leapt off the bridge, shocking his peers in the legal fraternity.

As lawyers, we should not speculate on the incident as we do not know the facts and also the important need to respect the feelings of family members.

However, one of the first things that would probably come to mind was that he may have jumped to his death because he could no longer cope with the stress and pressures of working life.

Thus the immediate blame was the insanely long working hours and harsh working conditions in today’s competitive atmosphere.

There were instances where pupils were tasked with researching complex areas of law all through the wee hours of the morning, and then expected to be ready by 8.30am for a court hearing.

If legal firms in Malaysia have too much work to be handled by existing resources, one of the probable solutions is to hire more people.

Unnecessary workload should not be imposed on lawyers who are already overwhelmed with other work.

Over the past 13 years, a group of young lawyers in Malaysia have been advocating for greater recognition and greater participation in the decision-making process of the Malaysian Bar at all levels.

As a result, the first Young Lawyers Com­mittee was formed at the Kuala Lumpur Bar and at the national level of the Bar Council through a resolution.

Since mid-2003, young lawyers of the Malaysian Bar launched vigorous nationwide campaigns to abolish Section 46A of the Legal Profession Act.

Section 46A of the Act bans those in the Bar with less than seven years experience, Members of Parliament, state assembly representatives and office-bearers in trade unions and political parties from holding positions in the Bar Council.

The provision blatantly encroached and violated the fundamental freedom of association of rights enshrined in the Federal Constitution, as it prevented young lawyers who had practised less than seven years from being elected as members of the Bar Council.

After several representations to the Attorney-General, Parliament finally on Oct 2, 2006 repealed Section 46(1)(a), giving a ‘voice’ to the young lawyers.

Over the years, there has been a decline in the strength of this once influential young lawyers’ movement i.e. previously, when a meeting of young lawyers was called, the attendance would easily be over 100 lawyers.

However, this is no longer the case.

Are young lawyers today too overwhelmed with work to commit time or is apathy to be blamed?

A fortnight ago, a group of young lawyers from Kuala Lumpur gathered for a retreat at Bukit Gambang Resort City, Kuantan.

Besides being a well-deserved break from the hectic work schedule, the retreat was to be a brainstorming of sorts to mainly identify problems affecting young lawyers.

There was a good mixture of participants from various backgrounds and different levels of seniority.

Among the problems raised were harsh treatment by senior partners, lack of guidance, training and mentoring by senior lawyers, grossly underpaid, unappreciated, long working hours, extreme heavy workload, office politics, etc.

From comments received, it ultimately appeared that young lawyers in Kuala Lumpur are troubled by the poor working conditions and further burdened by the low remuneration.

My learned colleague at the Bar, Raphael Kok, aptly put it in his last article A revolt Against the Older that “grossly underpaid, overworked and undervalued are the common grievances ventilated by young professionals in Malaysia. They hunger for better money, work-life balance, career satisfaction and social advancement.”

At the retreat, participants were of the opinion that the Young Lawyers Committee should serve as a platform for young lawyers to voice their views and concerns on issues affecting them, the Bar and the nation. They certainly want their grievances to be heard.

As the problems have been identified, the question is: What are today’s young lawyers doing to solve, if not improve the conditions?

More often than not, we hear them ventilating the problems amongst themselves over lunch or during court recess but in reality, nothing is really achieved by it.

What then has happened to the once strong movement of young lawyers during the late 1990s?

They fought for a voice and succeeded. Young lawyers of today should make use of this voice and heed the call for necessary changes in the working environment.

After all, during law school, students were often reminded that as future lawyers, they will be the agents of social change in today’s society.

As the legal profession continues to evolve, younger lawyers and pupils must recognise that they are the future of the Malaysian Bar and there is an urgent need to voice out and address their problems.

To only moan and complain and whisper along the courtroom corridors will not bring the desired results. We must use this voice and speak loudly and clearly so that we are heard.

> The writer is a young lawyer and a member of the National Young Lawyers Committee of the Bar Council. Putik Lada, or pepper buds in Malay, captures the spirit and intention of this column – a platform for young lawyers to articulate their views and aspirations about the law, justice and a civil society. For more information about the young lawyers, please visit www.malaysianbar.org.my