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Richard Wee, Chairperson of the National Young Lawyers Committee (“NYLC”), set the tone of the Convention with a rousing and almost cautionary dark speech on the impending liberalisation of the Bar and its effects on young lawyers.  He explained, with usual fervour, how the theme “Towards a Better Bar” was meant to improve the quality of young lawyers on an intellectual and core-competency level, and to improve working conditions for young lawyers.  All in all, the Convention was meant to be the start of a new intellectual beginning for this generation of young lawyers.
 

Next, Christopher Leong, Vice-President of the Malaysian Bar, gave his welcoming address, in which he expressed gratitude to see a myriad of young lawyers from the country’s different states attend the Convention.
 

The keynote address that followed was made special by RR Chelvarajah, one of the longest-serving Council Members from Malacca.  As the guest of honour, he officiated the Convention at 4:50 pm and added an element of wisdom, experience and soul that only a senior Member of the Bar could provide, by thanking the NYLC for the opportunity to deliver the keynote address to the future leaders of the Bar.  In his punct uated and distinguished style, he reminded the audience that Bar Council subscribed to the Rule of Law and that the Malaysian Bar was the only professional body vigilant against the erosion of liberty in the country – elements that young lawyers should never forget.

Tony Woon began the session by inviting George Varughese to provide a short presentation on the “Liberalisation of the Bar”. Through the presentation, it was explained that two models of liberalisation were being considered for introduction: qualified foreign law firms and international partnerships. Qualified foreign law firms would be offered five licenses to practise international Islamic finance law in Malaysia.  They would also be allowed to set up their offices in Malaysia and would not be required to have a Malaysian partner. 

This was contrasted against international partnership firms, which are firms set up by Malaysian law firms hand-in-hand with foreign law firms to facilitate foreign firms’ access into the Malaysian market.  Under this model, the Malaysian law firm would retain 60% equity of the international partnership. This was highlighted to the audience with certain elements of surprise and horror as its impact on the legal fraternity was certainly, by no stretch of the imagination, far-reaching.  Nevertheless, George Varughese explained that these firms would not be allowed to practise in all areas and reminded delegates that liberalisation was an imminent process; thus lawyers, as a whole, must learn to embrace it.  The future of such liberalisation would ensure an increase of business and job opportunities, and also international exposure to the local legal community. 

The second speaker, Mureli Navaratnam, shared his views on the impact of liberalisation, particularly on how Penang has already been impacted. Unknown perhaps by many a young lawyer, a lot of multinational companies currently set up in Penang have a resident in-house counsel; a national from the company’s home country.  As different countries have different legal cultures, lawyers in Penang have learnt to adapt to these differences when dealing with their in-house counterparts at multinational companies. Therefore, in that regard, lawyers in Penang have already faced the need to improve themselves, both in knowledge and skills, in order to remain competitive and marketable. Thus, Mureli Navaratnam concluded that continuing legal education was paramount to each and every lawyer, regardless of seniority. 

Desmond Ho Chee Cheong rounded up the session with an insight on the limited liability partnership bill. He stressed that there was a possibility that a new practice culture, where the legal field would become “more and more competitive”, would soon replace the current culture.  Lawyers, as a whole, would not only have to compete with learned friends from law firms, but may find that the competition was now within their own practices – with learned friends in the same firm!  He therefore urged the delegates, in the same vein as his fellow speakers, on the imperative of continuing to improve their standard of English and constantly strive to better their knowledge of the law. 

A question-and-answer session, in which speakers were pressed for reassurance that Bar Council fully intended to push forward the liberalisation proposal with the powers that be and ensure that liberalisation would occur gradually, concluded the event.