Article and photos by Azwa Zulsamli, Officer, Bar Council Professional Indemnity Insurance and Risk Management Department
On 22 Aug 2019, the Bar Council Professional Indemnity Insurance ("PII") and Risk Management Department together with the Malacca Bar Committee, jointly organised a half–day risk management seminar entitled "How Not to be a Statistic: The Conveyancing Scam", at the Malacca Bar Auditorium. The crux of the seminar was on conveyancing scams reported to the PII Scheme, lawyers' duty to clients, and managing risks.
The line–up of speakers consisted of Balbir Singh of Najiana Wan Balbir and Dennis Goh of Jardine Lloyd Thompson Sdn Bhd. Karen Cheah Yee Lynn of Chooi & Company + Cheang & Ariff moderated the seminar.
From left: Nitin Kumar (Malacca Bar Representative on the Bar Council), Karen Cheah Yee Lynn, Balbir Singh, and Dennis Goh.
Both panellists kept the crowd engaged with their informative presentations: The participants were taken aback by Dennis's revelation of the statistics and graphs illustrating data compiled from claims received over five years. The numbers are alarming, and keep increasing each year.
Balbir then shed light on cases of conveyancing scams, some of which had the same modus operandi, and were even committed by the same group of people.
Following that, both panellists emphasised the importance of implementing good risk management practices in law firms, which would help avert instances of law firms falling victim to scammers.
A question–and–answer session capped the seminar.
The workshop was attended by 76 participants, comprising Members of the Bar, pupils in chambers and law students, as well as staff of law firms.
Based on feedback by participants, the seminar was beneficial and would make a difference in their legal practice, especially for conveyancing practitioners.
If you would like to attend the next seminar on "How Not to be a Statistic: The Conveyancing Scam", please contact your State Bar Committee, or the Bar Council PII and Risk Management Department by telephone at 03–2032 4511 or by email at pirm@malaysianbar.org.my.